Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced legislation Wednesday that would make the U.S. Supreme Court enact an ethics code in the wake of allegations regarding conservative Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife accepting gifts from a billionaire.
"A healthy democracy requires trust: trust in systems, trust in institutions, and trust in leaders. Americans deserve to have confidence that every part of their government — especially the highest court in the land — is acting in an ethical manner," King said in a press release announcing the bipartisan legislation. "In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton notes that the Judiciary can only be successful if it has 'the esteem and applause of all the virtuous and disinterested.' With trust in the Supreme Court reaching historic lows, I worry we're getting dangerously far from this fundamental vision.
"The Supreme Court Code of Conduct Act is a commonsense step to restore and maintain faith in the high court by requiring the creation of consistent, transparent rules like the ones that apply to every other federal judge across our democracy.
"The other two branches of government already have codes of conduct, it is only reasonable the full Judiciary should as well. I appreciate Senator Murkowski's partnership on this bipartisan effort to strengthen our institutions and protect the vision of our founders."
The high court is the only judicial body in the land that does not have an explicit code of conduct to regulate official duties and activities outside of the court, the release said.
The proposed law would give the court a year to establish a code of conduct and publish it on its website to ensure it is available to the public.
It would also name a person to oversee public complaints that allege violations of the code, or other federal laws, and would report such activity to the public each year.
"The American public's confidence in the Supreme Court is at an all-time-low. Americans have made clear their concerns with the transparency — or lack thereof — coming from the Supreme Court and its justices," Murkowski said in the release. "It is critical the public has full faith that their institutions are functioning, including the judicial branch.
"The Supreme Court must demonstrate independence and fairness as they rule on the laws of the land — and any cracks in the public's confidence will have damaging repercussions for the state of our democracy.
"That's why I'm proud to join Senator Angus King on this bipartisan effort to require our highest court to establish its own ethics code, following the practices of the other federal courts and the Legislative and Executive branches, while also working to restore the public's confidence in the integrity and impartiality of our judiciary."