“Rules for thee but not for me” seems to be the phrase these days when it comes to criticizing Supreme Court justices. Politico adds to the double standard in its recent story that attacks Justice Amy Coney Barrett for not providing a client list from her husband’s law firm on her annual financial disclosure form.
Disclosing such clients is neither required nor appropriate, but that didn’t stop Gabe Roth of the group Fix The Court, which was funded by a left-wing money outfit connected to Arabella Advisors, from bemoaning the supposed loss of public trust in the court resulting from the lack of information about the clients of Jesse Barrett’s firm. And I don’t recall Mr. Roth, or anyone else on the left, hand-wringing over a lack of disclosure from the law firms of the spouses of liberal justices.
The Politico story makes much of Mr. Barrett’s continuing to practice law after moving to Washington when his wife joined the Supreme Court. But by sticking with his Indiana-based firm, SouthBank Legal, Mr. Barrett hasn’t raised any appearance issues. SouthBank Legal doesn’t have a Supreme Court practice and has never represented clients before the court.