More is More With SCOTUS Ethics Transparency

A big thank you to Senators Patrick Leahy, Dick Durbin, Al Franken, Richard Blumenthal, and Sheldon Whitehouse for asking the Supreme Court to provide greater transparency about the way it handles ethical issues.

The Justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts in his State of the Judiciary report for 2011, steadfastly maintain that the Court abides by the same standards, set out in the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges, that apply to lower court judges. Justices Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy even testified before a House Committee to that effect.

But because the language of the Code specifically exempts the Supreme Court and the justices are, well… Supreme, there’s confusion about how or even whether they can be held accountable for ethical violations.

Making things worse is that fact that there have been several recent instances in which the behavior of some Justices seems to have violated the Code.  Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia attended a fundraiser last Fall for the Federalist Society, despite provisions in the code of conduct that would seem to bar it.

Justice Thomas was caught by Common Cause filing inaccurate and misleading information on his federal financial disclosure forms regarding his wife Ginni’s employment.

And then there was that business about Justices Thomas and Scalia attending political retreats sponsored by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, also not what you expect from SCOTUS Justices.

Common Cause has called on the Justices to formally adopt the Judicial Code of Conduct and spell out how they enforce it internally. Their response so far, which amounts to a collective plea to “Trust Us,” just isn’t good enough.

We’re with the Senators when they observe in their letter to Chief Justice Roberts, “We firmly believe that full disclosure of the Court’s rules and its processes can only lead to greater confidence in the Court, and we look forward to working with you and the other Members of the Court to achieve this goal.”