‘These People Are Not GODS!’ Elie Mystal Goes OFF on Conservative Supreme Court Justices ‘Obviously On The Take’

Justice Correspondent for The Nation Elie Mystal went off on conservative Supreme Court justices he said are “obviously on the take,” and called for accountability via congressional action.

The Supreme Court has come under fire and increased scrutiny after reporting on undisclosed gifts to Justice Clarence Thomas emerged. In response, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin proposed a hearing on Supreme Court ethics.

On Saturday morning’s edition of MSNBC’s The Katie Phang Show, host Katie Phang asked Mystal to expand on his commentary blasting the “ethical rot” that he sees in the conservative-controlled court, and the insufficiency of Durbin’s response:

KATIE PHANG: In a piece for The Nation, you describe the situation of the high court as “ethical rot oozing from the Republican-controlled Supreme Court. Is this really boiling down to the super-conservative majority on the highest court in the land, not wanting to cede any ground to external oversight?

ELIE MYSTAL: I think it comes down to nine people who believe themselves to be above the law and better than the rest of us simply not willing to submit to basic independent ethical oversight. I actually don’t think this is a liberal-conservative thing. It happens to be the conservatives right now that are most obviously on the take. But the larger issue here is the way that the Supreme Court has always operated in secret and thinks that it’s entitled to and thinks that it is above the law. And that’s what needs to be stopped and that’s what needs to be stopped by Congress. These people are not gods! They’re not kings! They’re not rulers! They work for us. And at some point, it is what it is. It is reasonable to expect these people to submit to the same ethical requirements that Would apply to a traffic court judge in Peoria.

Watch above via MSNBC’s The Katie Phang Show.