our freedom is in your hands. thank you. ♪ >> today democratic representatives jerry huffman and steny hoyer discuss the implementation of the infrastructure investment and jobs act and the inflation reduction act and how they relate to u.s. policy. watch live coverage starting at 12:30 on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. host: more about that letter

from senator durbin. john roberts picking up the story, saying the chair invited the chief justice to testify and was focused on the ethical roles governing the supreme court as well as changes to those guidelines. the story adding the call to robert's testimony comes at a turbulent time for the court and its members concerns surrounding the lifetime appointments involving justice clarence thomas who are according to an investigation failed to disclose 20 years of luxury trips with billionaire and republican donor heartland fro. -- harlan crow discussion on how supreme court justices discuss ethical issues w in your year end report on the federal judiciary. , there has been a stay stream of revelations regarding justic falling short of the ethical standards

expected of other federal juds and public servants generally. these problems were apparent in 2011 and the failure to address them has contributed to a crisis of public confidence, the status quo is no longer tenable. that is part of the letter that dick durbin sent to chief justice john roberts concerning hearing, not being subpoenaed but voluntarily being invited to come to capitol hill to testify on those issues. we will read more about that in the supreme court, but we want to get your sense of your level of confidence in the court. perhaps it is the chief justice thomas story that affects that and also on the abortion pill. call us and let us know what you think. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats.

an independents, (202) 748-8002. let's hear from earlier. [video clip] >> serving as a federal judge and a supreme court justice is one of the highest honors in the nation we can confer on an individual, above all it is a public service. judges and justices are interested by the american people to serve the public interest and administer equal justice under the law. that is why taxpayers and not billionaire donors from judicial salaries and court houses -- funded judicial salaries and court houses. they have to put this above their own self interest. a reporting tells a much different story. it shows justice accepting

secret, lavish luxury trips and real estate purchases from a wealth or donor with interests affected by the court. this is conduct we cannot tolerate, whether it is from a mayor, a city councilmember, or other elected officials and we certainly shouldn't tolerate it in the highest courts in the land. the supreme court needs to clean up its act, and fast. ethics scandals and every level of government have inspired reform. congress has amended laws governing the house and senate to ensure there is transparency and disclosure from the trips we take and donations we receive. we have a code of official conduct that we must follow and ethics committees provide guidance and oversight our activities. these minis can launch investigation and -- these committees can launch

investigations and penalize. it affects the judiciary, including the supreme court. we pass appropriations bills each year to cover judges' paychecks and our court houses. we have disclosure laws like the ethics in government act and refusal laws that apply to all federal judges, including supreme court justices. we have long known their shortcomings and ethics standards from the highest court in the land, the supreme court. host: senator durbin serves as the chair and invited that invitation to chief justice to talk about ethics reforms. you can talk about your confidence. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for stem -- for democrats. (202) 748-8002 for independence.

this is the democrat from rhode island adding on his twitter feed, you know it is serious when a fox news analyst joins my call for an investigation of justice thomas. bill paschal junior from new jersey saying, clarence thomas hurt election cases while his wife conspired to overthrow democracy. he should resign from the supreme court. on a twitter feed, justice, should be subjected to a full investigation with critical trust in the system and they should be held to the highest ethical standards. congresswoman madeleine dean sang in law school we were taught that justices have to be not showing impropriety, justice clarence thomas is welcome to clear his name for congress. representative mary miller adding on her twitter feed

saying justice parents thomas is under attack by the left because he believes in our constitution. he has lived the american dream and we are blessed to have his wisdom on the supreme court. a congressman saying claris -- justice clarence thomas is a patriot. that is some reaction from congress soup earning -- concerning the supreme court. we are hearing from you in the first hour. from south carolina, on there were in line on the level of confidence. duke, the morning. caller: thank you for c-span. i really don't have any confidence in any act of government, senate, state, presidency, or the courts. everybody is corrupt and making

money. i think every person in congress and the entire judicial system, fbi, everybody should be investigated for how they make money. it is the biggest corruption i have ever seen. these people in our government our just all about themselves, not about us, the regular people, people who are working. it is just a sad state of affairs. host: they ask considering the high court, you said level of corruption everywhere. what would you target the supreme court with when it comes to that level of corruption? caller: i would say that everybody is out for themselves no matter what position they are in. i don't really trust any values of anybody that is in charge. our country is going downhill. host: let's hear from ann in new

york democrat line. caller: i think claris -- clarence thomas should resign or be impeached. and mitch mcconnell and donald trump put at least two justices on the supreme court that should have been appointed by a democratic president. they stole those seats. now we have right wing religious nuts on the court and if the democrats get the house, senate, and presidency, i firmly believe they should pack the court. host: vincent is in gaithersburg , maryland, independent-minded. caller: good morning, american people, c-span. as far as ethics go in regards to this question, hello see, schumer -- pelosi, shift -- sc

hiff, hillary, and president biden should be -- the only reason why the democrats are trashing judge clarence thomas is because they want that seat so they can pack the courts with their leftists , insane, marxist ideology that is tearing this country apart. that is what biden is about. host: as far as your level of confidence in the court, what would you place it as? caller: absolutely terrific. it is terrific because democrats are going after it because it is blocking their insane ideology. yes, the supreme court is what it should be and it has who

should be on it. host: vincent in maryland. let's hear from akiva in new jersey, republican line. caller: i want to make sure everyone at home understands that justice thomas and justice alito and every justice from the hard right. regardless of whether you like them, that does not matter. justice is blind. justice should be blind. that is how i view the supreme court and people in the judiciary. by the way, i do have very high confidence in the supreme court and the justices of the supreme

court. host: specifically why? caller: i have confidence in them because they were very educated on state laws for over a decade before they have been nominated by a president. so don't act as if they are done -- dumb because they are going on because should without telling the american people. host: a handful of opinion there when it comes to the level of confidence of the supreme court. you can call or text us if you wish at (202) 748-8000 and some posting on the start of the show. doug saying the court itself, yes. as long as they follow some constitutional reasoning and structure, do not play into pop culture whims.

they deeply called himself into question your derek friday off of facebook saying justice robert seems like the only conservative supreme court justice that isn't bought off and pay for by the federalist society in the heritage foundation. you can make your comments known at facebook.com/c-span. our tutor handle is @cspanwj. take a look at the question, usa today from earlier asking questions and when it comes to the court itself they found the supreme court's favorability continues to be low, 50% of americans doing court unfavorably compared to 48% of americans who view the court favorably. that is from usa today. two the washington post from earlier, -- to the washington post from earlier, say a new

survey wednesday from the economist finds that the public broadly disagrees and accepting luxury trips without disclosing them. six of 10 disapprove with a quarter of those approving that. that comes with the caveat that many americans haven't digested the views at the time. 46% say they heard a little. it seems the responses are somewhat in in the abstract and emphasizing and describing, even the republicans are more likely to disapprove, little more than three in 10 of thomas' conduct. philadelphia, pennsylvania, your confidence. caller: i have no confidence in the supreme court, i would like to put this to republicans and see how they feel. suppose you had justice kagan,

justis hagan''s husband that is involved in groups that thought the election was stolen. and she was accepting gifts from george soros, taking trips and not disclosing it. her family home and allowed her mother to stay there rent free. and then she is not disclosing it. i could imagine what lindsey graham, cancun ted, josh hawley, i can imagine what they would be saying. thomas should step down. he can't be fair and unbiased in some of his rulings.

with his ethical lapses there is no way he should be on the supreme court. host: that is milton in philadelphia. just to highlight, justice kagan never has been married according to usa today and does not have children and has two brothers. jim in michigan, independent line, you are next up. caller: hello, how are you this morning? host: fine, thank you. go ahead talking about confidence in the supreme court. how are you? caller: i have no confidence in the supreme court, let alone my own government, and the banking system and when that collapses, everything is going to go haywire. host: keeping your comments to the court, why do you have no level of confidence? caller: just the rulings i have witnessed over the past 42 years

that i have been alive and my question is -- when will the patriot men and women of the armed forces and militias step in and get rid of this corruption once and for all? host: you said rulings, what rulings did you see that influenced your decision? caller: well, i will tell you what rulings that the bronson case, where everybody that violated the oath should have been charged with treason from the supreme court. that is one case. and the supreme court keeps kicking it down the road. they are corrupt as well. host: chris in grass valley,

california, republican line. caller: my thoughts are mixed on confidence about the u.s. supreme court. you know, i find the decision that was made that i think supported sandra day o'connor's decision that this archly is an -- this largely is an issue of state sovereignty. but with the abortion pill drug, confidence has to be more aligned on how scientific or is there a legitimate complaint that this drug some 20 years ago never really went through the proper protocols to begin with and never satisfied so much safety as well. i guess some 5 million women have terminated pregnancies through it. in the past i was a year with a

reporting system that there is a deaths associated with it of only be not a direct cause. my level of confidence, i think, is probably high. i just don't want to -- i think it is probably pretty high, because i think court decisions from the u.s. supreme court generally have stuck to principles of respecting state rights and respecting what administrations do to regulate drugs to the protection or medical necessities of populations. host: ok, chris there in california. this week, there was supposed to be an decision on mifepristone. justice alito pushing the

deadline to today. the hill taking a look at the options the court could play when it comes to an ultimate decision. option one it says, scotus passes the ruling while the appeal proceeds. they laboratories, pharmaceutical industry and abortion rights advocates are asking them to do that. it would be a temporary one for the biden administration. the appellate court's scheduling oral argument and the government >> we are going to leave washington journal but you can watch the rest at c-span.org as we take you live to a of energy policy hosted by axios.