Supreme Court Ethics Office Bill Proposed by House Democrats

The Supreme Court would have new in-house counselors to provide ethics advice and investigate potential violations under legislation unveiled Tuesday by House Democrats.

The Supreme Court Ethic and Investigations Act sponsored by Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) is the latest Democratic attempt to increase oversight of the high court and how the justices self-police ethical questions. Most recently, Justice Samuel Alito has declined to recuse himself from two cases involving Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot after the New York Times reported that flags associated with far-right causes flew over his family homes.

The bill would create an office of ethics counsel to provide guidance on matters including financial disclosures, gifts, and political activity and an office of investigative counsel that would review and investigate ethics complaints involving justices and their spouses filed by Congressional leaders.

“This is unfortunately, long overdue. And we have asked the Supreme Court and Chief Justice numerous times to police itself to ensure that general commonly understood ethics rules that apply to every other judge in this country should also apply to the Supreme Court,” Goldman said at a press conference.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said that it was important to bring forward this bill now because the Supreme Court is “ethically compromised.” Nadler said the timing of the bill has nothing to do with the looming 2024 election.

“Every judge in the federal courts, except for the Supreme Court, has an enforceable code of ethics. The Supreme Court should be no different,” Nadler said.

The bill is apart of broader efforts by Congressional Democrats to increase oversight of the Supreme Court, though none are likely to be enacted given partisan divisions over the issue. Last year Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) introduced a bill that would adopt a code of conduct for justices and investigate instances of judicial misconduct. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced a bill that would ban justices from trading stocks.