Today the Supreme Court Justices announced a new Code of Conduct in response to the many recent examples of unreported and inappropriate gifts, the failures to recuse themselves from cases with a clear conflict of interest, and the lack of transparency around personal finances. You can read it here.

 “For the most part these rules and principles are not new,” the court said, adding that “the absence of a code, however, has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the justices of this court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules.”

While this Code does not go as far as proposed legislation in Congress, it is an improvement over the current situation. It states that the Justices will follow the Judicial Conference Regulations on Gifts, just like all lower court judges have to.

The Code is divided into five sections or Canons: 
CANON 1: A JUSTICE SHOULD UPHOLD THE INTEGRITY AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY.
CANON 2: A JUSTICE SHOULD AVOID IMPROPRIETY AND THE APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY IN ALL ACTIVITIES.
CANON 3: A JUSTICE SHOULD PERFORM THE DUTIES OF OFFICE FAIRLY, IMPARTIALLY, AND DILIGENTLY.
CANON 4: A JUSTICE MAY ENGAGE IN EXTRAJUDICIAL ACTIVITIES THAT ARE CONSISTENT WITH THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE JUDICIAL OFFICE.
CANON 5: A JUSTICE SHOULD REFRAIN FROM POLITICAL ACTIVITY.

What the Code lacks, however, is any section addressing enforcement or penalties when the stated standards of what a Justice should and should not do are ignored. 

Thank you to everyone who used our Action Alert to contact their legislators about supporting the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act. We are confident that the possibility of Congressional action motivated the nine Justices to finally take this important step towards ethics and transparency. 

Your advocate, Scott MacConomy Director of Policy and Government Affairs  Secular Coalition for America