Former Republican governor of Arkansas and Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson seems to believe the ethically challenged Chief Justice John Roberts is going to do anything about the corruption crisis at the Supreme Court. During an interview on this Sunday's Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd asked Hutchinson what he thought about the "current crisis of confidence at the Supreme Court." Sorry Chuck, but the "crisis" isn't whether or not anyone has "confidence" in this court. The crisis is the fact that we've got a bunch of justices that have basically been bought by wealthy Republicans, and that includes Chief Justice Roberts and his wife.
CHUCK TODD: Let me ask you this about the current crisis of confidence at the Supreme Court. Back in the late '90s when you were in Congress, you led a bipartisan effort – there was a rebuke, an ethics investigation of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich – and you led a bipartisan effort that, "Hey, this is what was concluded." And it was a bipartisan action. He had to pay a pretty hefty fine. But it was, it was accepted by the public because it was bipartisan. Do we need that here with the Supreme Court? It feels like there isn't an accepting of the premise that the Court has an ethical problem right now.
The only people who aren't "accepting" the fact that the court has an "ethical problem" are Republicans who will do or say anything to protect their own and retain power. Hutchinson responded by doing just that, lying that it's Democrats that are somehow "undermining" the court rather than admitting that the corruption being exposed is what's undermining it, and then pretending that the court is capable of policing itself.
FMR. GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON: Well, this is an important issue. And whenever you look at the confidence of the Supreme Court, which is critical to operation of our democracy, that confidence level is somewhat down.
But if you look back in history, you had, during the Warren Court – they had a controversial decision: Brown v. Board of Education – and for a long time, the Court was under extraordinary criticism. The confidence level was diminished. That has been built back up over time.
You've had a controversial decision, and history is repeating itself. You've got, in this case, the Democrats undermining the Court, first of all by wanting to pack it more than nine, which has been our historic number. And then secondly, these allegations against Justice Thomas.
The Court needs to be transparent, first of all. They need to be clear on what their reporting rules are. They need to review those to make sure they're very similar to the other public officials and branches of government, which has broad reporting requirements. Clearly, they have not been sufficient. They've changed those.
CHUCK TODD: Right.
FMR. GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON: But I think they need this step just simply in terms of their transparency so the American people understand what the rules are, and what is required, and is similar to other public officials.
CHUCK TODD: It sounds like you think Chief Justice Roberts -- you think he needs to come out and publicly state what you just said?
FMR. GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON: Well, sure. I think there needs to be a clear set of rules. And there needs to be openness about it so that everybody knows what the rules are. Those are important. Every public official has to follow those. They can set those. They should set those versus the Congress of the United States, because they are a separate branch of government.
And with that, Todd just thanked him for coming on and moved right along. No mention of Roberts' wife or why anyone in their right mind would believe he's got any reason to address the corruption because it would mean addressing his own scandal. Really pathetic, but that's what we've come to expect from Chuck Todd.
