Durbin Joins Colleagues in Reintroducing Bicameral Bill Requiring Supreme Court Justices to Follow Code of Ethics
WASHINGTON – As
public confidence in the Supreme Court falls to an all-time low, U.S. Senate
Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
joined U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), U.S. Representative Hank Johnson
(D-GA), and colleagues to reintroduce the Supreme Court Ethics Act,
requiring the Judicial Conference of the United States to create a code of
ethical conduct for the Supreme Court of the United States.
“The Supreme Court
of the Unites States ought to be the embodiment of objectivity. As reports of
ethically questionable behavior by Justices continue to surface, Congress must
close the inexcusable ‘Supreme Court loophole’ in federal judicial ethics rules
by creating and enforcing a code of ethics for Supreme Court Justices. The Supreme
Court Ethics Act is a common sense step that we can take to ensure
impartiality in deliberations, help reverse the troubling trajectory of public
trust in the Court, and hold its Justices to the highest of ethical standards,”
said
Durbin.
“Every federal
judge is bound by a code of ethics – except for the nine who sit on the highest
court in the country. Trust in the Supreme Court is at a historic low because
the American people see justices hide their conflicts of interest and openly
engage in political behavior. This legislation would help restore some lost
faith by requiring the Judicial Conference to create a code of ethics for
Supreme Court justices. It’s a simple, non-partisan solution to increase
transparency, enforce accountability, and start to rebuild public confidence in
the Court,” said Murphy.
“This isn’t a
conservative-liberal justice problem – it’s an American Democracy [capital D]
problem when the court regularly faces challenging ethical questions, and
because of their crucial and prominent role, the justices receive intense
public scrutiny for their choices,” said Johnson. “As we read more and more
about the dealing of the court, it continues to show us what’s going on behind
the curtain, more and more of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will be
calling for justices to bind themselves to a code of ethics.”
The legislation
would also require the appointment of an Ethics Investigations Counsel and
require justices to publicly disclose recusal decisions.
U.S. Senators
Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bob Casey (D-PA), Ed Markey
(D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Tammy
Baldwin (D-WI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Tom Carper (D-DE),
Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA),
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben
Ray Luján (D-NM), Gary Peters (D-MI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jeanne Shaheen
(D-NH), Tina Smith (D-MN), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) also
co-sponsored the legislation.
The Supreme
Court Ethics Act would:
- Create a statutory requirement for the Judicial Conference of the United States to issue a code of conduct that applies to the Supreme Court;
- Direct the Supreme Court to appoint an Ethics Investigations Counsel who will establish a process for the public to report information about potentially unethical conduct by the Justices and to issue a public annual report on the disposition of allegations and investigations;
- Empower the Ethics Investigations Counsel to conduct their own investigations into potential violations of the code of conduct;
- Require Justices who recuse themselves from a case to publicly disclose the reason;
- Require Justices who deny a proper motion to recuse to publicly disclose the reason.
A one-pager
providing further details about the bill is available here.
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