The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday abruptly put off its push to subpoena two conservative allies of Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas as part of a Supreme Court ethics inquiry that has met stiff resistance from Republicans.
Facing G.O.P.
threats to engage in a bitter, drawn-out fight, Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and the panel’s chairman, halted his planned effort to compel cooperation from Leonard Leo, a longtime leader of the Federalist Society, and the billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow.
Mr. Durbin said that Democrats remained united in their desire to force more information from the men about undisclosed luxury travel and other benefits provided to the justices, but that they needed more time to assess a barrage of politically charged amendments that Republicans were planning to offer in an effort to embarrass them and derail the inquiry.
Republicans said they planned to draw immigration issues into the fight and require votes to subpoena the staff of Justice Sonia Sotomayor about promoting her personal book sales, along with other hot-button issues.
Persons:
Samuel A, Alito Jr, Clarence Thomas, Richard J, Durbin, Leonard Leo, Harlan Crow, Sonia Sotomayor
Organizations:
Republicans, Federalist Society
Locations:
Illinois