People For Supporter –
We need to fix a glaring loophole in the rules under which our nation's highest court operates: the nine justices on the Supreme Court are the ONLY U.S. judges not covered by a binding ethical code of conduct.
It’s a not-infrequent occurrence for a federal judge to have some personal or financial conflicting interest in a case that’s been brought before them. The ethics codes that govern the U.S. judicial system will typically require those judges to recuse themselves from the case in order to preserve impartiality. Not so for the Supreme Court. The ethics rules that apply to the rest of our federal judges do not apply to justices of the Supreme Court, who make their own decisions about whether they should recuse themselves from any case.
Thankfully, there is recently-introduced legislation that would overhaul the nation’s judicial ethics laws and apply many of the same requirements to Supreme Court justices.
The Judicial Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act would represent a massive step forward in strengthening the integrity of, and public trust in, the nation’s highest court. The bill would ban federal judges from owning assets (such as stocks, property, etc.) that could create a conflict in cases before the court, restrict judicial gifts and privately funded travel, improve disclosure requirements, create new judicial accountability mechanisms, and require the Supreme Court to adhere to a strict and binding Code of Ethics. [1]
By implementing the measures found in this bill we can further ensure that judges at all levels will preside over cases with the impartiality we would expect from our nation’s judicial system.
Join us in calling on Congress to pass the Judicial Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act immediately! >>
As we’ve seen in recent cases before the court, the risk of unethical conduct among the justices is real. After Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, got involved in planning the January 6 insurrection, Justice Thomas was the sole dissenter in a case involving the collection of evidence for that investigation. This is unacceptable, and it’s long past time we put a stop to it.
Thanks for all that you do,
Zach, People For the American Way
Source:
[1] "Warren, Jayapal, Colleagues Introduce Bill to Reform Broken Judicial Ethics System." [Press Release] Senator Elizabeth Warren, 5/10/22
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