They are the only court without an ethics code.
An increasing number of people - including members of Congress - think this is a big problem.
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Traditionally, Supreme Court justices were near recluses, churning out rulings as they quietly worked behind stately marble columns. But they have begun to pop up in public venues—giving speeches, promoting books, celebrating marriages and even attending operas—like never before. Their new celebrity is also drawing a flurry of new, and often critical, scrutiny.
Watchdog groups are calling on the nine justices, who are appointed for life barring a moral or ethical cataclysm, to be more open and accountable, particularly about any stock investments they may have in the corporations whose legal disputes often wind up on their docket. But it’s highly unlikely the court will drop its veil of secrecy and embrace any efforts to curb its freedom to act as final judicial arbiter as it sees fit.
One change urged by a group called “Fix the Court” calls on the justices to disclose more information about any possible or actual conflicts of interest that arise from their financial holdings and other outside entanglements.
Fix the Court is hardly alone. The nine justices have been urged to change their ways for decades, particularly amid controversies like 2000 Bush v. Gore presidential contest decision was decided or the recent campaign finance remake in Citizens United.
But calls for curbs have fallen on deaf ears, leaving the court as the country’s only judicial body without an established ethics code. The Supreme Court relies on voluntary compliance. In April, Democratic lawmakers introduced the Supreme Court Ethics Act, which would require the top court to adopt written ethics rules within six months of the law’s enactment.
“There is absolutely no reason why the Supreme Court justices shouldn’t be subject to the same code of conduct as all other federal judges,” said Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut and the bill’s sponsor, when introducing the bill. Since 1973, all other federal judges have been required to adhere to a code of conduct.
