SCOTUS Justices Hobnob with Heathcare Opponents

The latest news about the low ethical standards set for the Supreme Court seems to have hit a nerve as more media outlets and everyday Americans sound off about Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas speaking at a fundraiser sponsored by opponents of the Obama healthcare law–on the same day that the Court announced it would hear arguments about the law.

The Los Angeles Times points out that this kind of behavior is nothing new for the justices:

The two justices have been attending Federalist Society events for years. And it’s nothing that runs afoul of ethics rules. In fact, justices are exempt from the Code of Conduct that governs the actions of lower federal judges.

If they were, they arguably fell under code’s Canon 4C, which states, “A judge may attend fund-raising events of law-related and other organizations although the judge may not be a speaker, a guest of honor, or featured on the program of such an event.“

Nevertheless, the sheer proximity of Scalia and Thomas to two of the law firms in the case, as well as to a company with a massive financial interest, was enough to alarm ethics-in-government activists.

In a blog on the Huffington Post website, Common Cause President Bob Edgar noted that for any other federal judge, this behavior would be against strict ethics rules that simply don’t apply to the Supreme Court:

This kind of activity by members of our highest court undercuts any claim of impartiality in the health care litigation by the justices involved. Worse yet, it clearly violates the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges, a set of ethical standards the Supreme Court helps enforce on lower federal courts but has refused to impose on itself.

Both stories are spreading widely via Twitter, where 140 characters seems like plenty of room to register disbelief, outrage, and embarrassment about the low standards for the highest court in the land.