Louise Slaughter And Other House Democrats Demand Ethics Code For Supreme Court

Apparently, ethics codes aren’t for everyone. The U.S. Supreme Court justices are the sole federal judges who don’t adhere to ethics rules, Mother Jones reports.

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) are slated to introduce the Supreme Court Ethics Act today. The push for such legislation began last year. Slaughter hand-delivered letters from more than 200 law professors and 100,000 citizens, as well as members of Congress in March 2012. Her website says:

The Supreme Court is the only court in the United States that doesn’t adhere to a binding code of conduct that applies to every other justice in the land.

The proposed legislation requires the Supreme Court to embrace ethics rules that judges in lower courts follow. Some Democrats have joined forces in a joint effort to give the Supremes some boundaries.?The Supremes are not subject to the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, according to uscourts.gov.


Concerns are raised regarding ethics with the judges of the highest court in the land, particularly with issues surrounding Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and his wife, Ginni.?No evidence suggests Justice Clarence Thomas violated ethics rules. However, an ethics ?cloud? still hangs over Thomas, thanks to his wife’s activities. Ginni Thomas? participation in Groundswell, a conservative campaign against certain Republicans, Karl Rove and liberals, has raised eyebrows. From?Mother Jones:

Her political activity has once again raised questions about whether she is creating conflicts of interest for her husband, and whether he should be forced to recuse himself from cases that involve Ginni’s work.

With that said, Thomas and Scalia are no strangers to Koch Industries fundraisers. This, in and of itself makes one wonder if there are special interests in certain cases, as the billionaire Koch brothers certainly have personal issues in many cases decided by this court. The New York Times reported they had once attended a 2010 Koch Industries fundraiser in Palm Springs.

Scalia has also starred at a Federalist Society event, which is?a conservative-leaning law and public policy group. From its website:

It is founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution.

Incidentally, the organization is also hosting a Scalia and Georgetown University Law School Prof. John Baker-taught continuing legal education course on the separation of powers.

Photo from CNN.

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Jason Carson Wilson is a Chicago-based freelance writer with more than 10 years of journalism experience. Wilson previously worked as a staff writer for daily and weekly newspapers throughout downstate Illinois. He also contribute to the Windy City Times. Wilson, a gay, African-American, is a first-year Chicago Theological Seminary student. He covers stories about GLBT rights, human rights, marriage equality, politics, race, and religion.