Videos

September 4 | Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) joins The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell to discuss a ProPublica piece that found Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, privately heaped praise on religious-rights group First Liberty Institute for fighting efforts to reform the Supreme Court — efforts sparked, in large part, by her husband’s ethical lapses.

The group’s leader, Kelly Shackelford, also attacked Justice Elena Kagan as “treasonous” for backing a stronger ethics code.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee, delivers the thirty-fourth in a series of speeches titled “The Scheme,” exposing the machinations by right-wing donor interests to capture the Supreme Court and achieve through the Court what they cannot through the elected branches of government.

Whitehouse discusses President Joe Biden’s commonsense proposal for rebuilding public confidence in the Supreme Court. The President’s proposal includes a binding code of ethics for the Supreme Court, 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices, and a constitutional amendment to overturn the Court’s disastrous decision on presidential immunity.

Whitehouse is the lead Senate sponsor of the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, judicial ethics legislation that advanced through the Judiciary Committee last July and awaits a vote on the Senate floor. He is also the lead Senate sponsor of the Supreme Court Biennial Appointments and Term Limits Act, which would create effective 18-year term limits for the Supreme Court.

July 31 | Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, delivers an opening statement at a Budget Committee hearing, entitled “Charging Ahead: The Future of Electric Vehicles.”

July 29 | Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, today joined Ali Velshi on MSNBC's The Last Word to discuss an announcement by President Joe Biden urging Congress to take action on Supreme Court ethics and term limits reform. Vice President Kamala Harris also endorsed the President’s proposal.

Whitehouse is the lead Senate sponsor of the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, which advanced through the Judiciary Committee last July and awaits a vote on the Senate floor, as well as the Supreme Court Biennial Appointments and Term Limits Act.

July 29 | Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, today cheered an announcement by President Joe Biden urging Congress to take action on Supreme Court ethics and term limits reform. Vice President Kamala Harris also endorsed the President’s proposal.

Whitehouse is the lead Senate sponsor of the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, which advanced through the Judiciary Committee last July and awaits a vote on the Senate floor, as well as the Supreme Court Biennial Appointments and Term Limits Act.

July 11 | Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee, delivers the thirty-third in a series of speeches titled “The Scheme,” exposing the machinations by right-wing donor interests to capture the Supreme Court and achieve through the Court what they cannot through the elected branches of government.

Whitehouse break downs four recent Supreme Court decisions – Ohio v. EPA, SEC v. Jarkesy, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, and Corner Post v. Federal Reserve – that are the latest in a line of rulings designed to gut the government’s ability to protect Americans from big polluters, corporate fraudsters, and self-interested employers. These decisions are part of an ongoing scheme by right-wing billionaires to capture and control the Supreme Court.

July 10 | Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) joins The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell after he and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate potential violations of ethics, false statement, and tax laws by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the benefactors who have supplied him with undisclosed gifts.

Whitehouse and Wyden write in their letter that the full pattern of Justice Thomas’s omissions of outside income and luxury gifts from his legally required financial disclosures warrant criminal investigation by the Department of Justice.

July 10 | Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) questions Shailen Bhatt, Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, in a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing. Whitehouse pushes the Administrator to pledge funding towards repairs of the Washington Bridge, a key artery connecting eastern Rhode Island to Providence.

July 9 | Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) joins All In with Chris Hayes to after he and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate potential violations of ethics, false statement, and tax laws by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the benefactors who have supplied him with undisclosed gifts.

Whitehouse and Wyden write in their letter that the full pattern of Justice Thomas’s omissions of outside income and luxury gifts from his legally required financial disclosures warrant criminal investigation by the Department of Justice.