Senate Judiciary Oversight Committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., speaks during a hearing June 13, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin, File)

The Supreme Court would have to abide by stronger ethics standards under legislation approved on Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The legislation has little chance to make it through the full Senate.

Activists demonstrate as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on a pair of cases that could decide the future of affirmative action in college admissions, in Washington, Oct. 31, 2022. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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The court's conservative majority overturned admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation's oldest private and public colleges, respectively.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin has requested that Chief Justice John Roberts or “another Justice whom you designate” appear before his committee next month for a hearing on Supreme Court ethics rules. (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images via CNN)

The call comes after Senate Democrats have raised questions about whether the ethical standards of the high court need to be reviewed or change in the wake of a ProPublica report that found Justice Clarence Thomas has gone on several luxury trips involving travel subsidized by GOP megadonor Harlan Crow.

FILE - Light illuminates part of the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. (AP Photo / Patrick Semansky, File)

Eight months, 126 formal interviews and a 23-page report later, the Supreme Court said it has failed to discover who leaked a draft of the court’s opinion overturning abortion rights.

Migrants from Venezuela line up in the cold weather for hot drinks and food from volunteers at a makeshift camp on the U.S.-Mexico Border in Matamoros, Mexico, Friday, Dec. 23, 2022. (AP Photo / Fernando Llano, File)

In a ruling Tuesday, the Supreme Court extended a temporary stay that Chief Justice John Roberts issued last week. Under the court’s order, the case will be argued in February and the stay will be maintained until the justices decide the case.

Michael Martin of Springfield, Va., with UpVote Virginia, holds a sign that reads “End Gerrymandering Again!” and speaks with Nadine Seiler of Waldorf, Md., in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022. (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik)

In nearly three hours of arguments, liberal and conservative justices appeared to take issue with the main thrust of a challenge asking them to essentially eliminate the power of state courts to strike down legislature-drawn, gerrymandered congressional district maps on grounds that they violate state constitutions.

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen early Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. (AP Photo / Jose Luis Magana)

It’s not surprising that the court, which has a strong conservative majority after former President Donald Trump appointed three justices during his single term in office, would seek to curb abortion rights. However, the breadth of the draft opinion startled advocates and sent shockwaves through American politics.

The Struggle For The Constitution

The Roberts Court has become the most conservative Supreme Court in decades--but acts in distinctly unconservative ways, writes Marcia Coyle. She joins us.