Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin again put off, for the second time, a scheduled vote on issuing subpoenas to two wealthy conservatives as the next step in Democrats’ Supreme Court ethics probe.
Durbin canceled a Thursday meeting where the committee was scheduled to vote on the subpoenas for billionaire Harlan Crow, a close friend of Justice Clarence Thomas, and conservative activist Leonard Leo, executive vice president of The Federalist Society. Last week, Durbin abruptly adjourned a hearing before the committee could vote on the motion after Republicans introduced a slew of counter-subpoenas as amendments.
Republicans’ amendments included issuing subpoenas to Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s staff, a proposal sparked by an Associated Press report that her staff assisted in arranging speaking engagements for and pressuring hosts to to purchase her books, and issuing a subpoena to Democrat-linked consultant firm Arabella Advisors.
