BROUGHT TO JUSTICE

Bipartisan Bill Will Try to Force an Ethics Code on the Supreme Court

“It’s pathetic that the Supreme Court hasn’t done this itself.”

A pair of senators on Wednesday will introduce a bipartisan bill that would compel the Supreme Court to create a code of ethics, according to a report. The Wall Street Journal says Sens. Angus King (I-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) will introduce the proposal to end the existing arrangement in which Supreme Court justices are not bound by a code of conduct unlike every other federal judge. “It’s pitiful that we’re having to introduce this bill—it’s pathetic that the Supreme Court hasn’t done this itself,” King said. He added that the bill would not prescribe what the standards should be, just that the court must have them and ensure it keeps to them. The news comes as Justice Neil Gorsuch was on Tuesday accused of failing to disclose a real estate transaction with the CEO of a major law firm, hot on the heels of reports that Justice Clarence Thomas had not disclosed a real estate deal and hospitality with a Republican megadonor.