Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is under scrutiny for failing to disclose thousands of dollars of gifts, luxury trips, tuition assistance, and real estate purchases from Texas billionaire and Republican donor Harlan Crow. Other justices, including Samuel Alito and Sonya Sotomayor, have also faced criticism for ethical lapses.
In response, some lawmakers are pushing to impose a binding code of conduct on the high court; the only part of the federal judiciary that doesn’t have any formal ethics oversight. But who, if anyone, can hold the country’s top judges accountable? What did the Framers of the constitutions intend?
In this video, we look at the history of judicial ethics and probe the constitutionality of creating a code of conduct for Supreme Court justices.
Featuring:
- Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, UC Berkeley School of Law
- Lydia Wheeler, Bloomberg Law Supreme Court reporter
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To contact the senior producer on this story: Andrew Satter in Washington at asatter@bloombergindustry.com; To contact the executive producer responsible for this story: