Fix the Court has learned that the chairman and ranking member of the House subcommittee that oversees the Supreme Court’s budget met with Justices Kennedy and Breyer in private this spring.

This is the second year in a row that such a meeting was held at the high court and not in a committee room before C-SPAN cameras and the American people.

FTC executive director Gabe Roth released this statement in response:

Members of Congress have been reluctant to hold the Supreme Court accountable by imposing stricter ethics and disclosures rules on the justices. Even so, our representatives hold great sway over the third branch, since Congress controls its budget.

Every other government entity that receives taxpayer funding must justify their budget in person, and the Supreme Court should not be exempt – even more so this year since they’ve requested an extra $2.7 million in taxpayer funding (for what, we don’t know), in addition to the $91 million they’re guaranteed to receive.

Last week, the same subcommittee, led by Chairman Tom Graves (R-Ga.) and Ranking Member Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), hosted a hearing on the judiciary’s budget, yet a couple of bureaucrats – and not Justices Kennedy and Breyer – showed up.