Watch Kennedy’s full statement here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, explained the danger that the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act of 2023 poses to the U.S. Supreme Court and the constitutionally-mandated balance of powers.

Key excerpts of Kennedy’s statement are below:

“You don't have to be Oliver Wendell Scalia to figure out that this legislation is meant to be a Court-killing machine. For example, it would allow any jackaloon out there in America in a tinfoil hat whose own dog thinks he's an utter nutter to file a motion to recuse the United States Supreme Court justice. Now, what could possibly go wrong? What could possibly go wrong? And my Democratic colleagues know that.”

… 

“This bill is dangerous, but it’s unserious. And I think my colleagues, some of them, know that and they're trying to make a point.”

… 

“I think all this heated rhetoric, about ethics, about Clarence Thomas being an ‘Uncle Tom,’—I mean, come on. I think it just destroys the institution. . . . But all this rhetoric has consequences.” 

Kennedy’s full remarks are available here.