On Monday, the Supreme Court released a code of conduct that they imposed on themselves requiring the full disclosure of all gifts received by outside forces. But they did not include an enforcement mechanism, and it is not clear who will hold them to the new policy.
The code, nine pages in length plus five pages of commentary, was approved by all current justices. It includes rules on the acceptance of gifts, the recusal standards, and political influence on the justices.
“The Supreme Court’s promulgation of a code of conduct today is of surpassing historic significance,” former federal appellate judge J. Michael Luttig reportedly told ProPublica. “The court must lead by the example that only it can set for the federal judiciary, as it does today.”
The Supreme Court's new ethics code, which does not include any enforcement mechanism, comes after ProPublica and other outlets revealed that justices had repeatedly failed to disclose gifts and travel from wealthy donors. https://t.co/scPNFilHEB
— ProPublica (@propublica) November 13, 2023
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The Court said in a statement that the code was created to address “the misunderstanding that the Justices of this Court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules.”
Furthermore, the Court claimed these rules are not new and this is not a precedent-setting move. The code “largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct,” read the statement.
The media has long been scrutinizing justice Clarence Thomas in particular, as well as other right-leaning members of the Court, alleging that their conservative views are influenced by corporate interests. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in particular has been leading the charge for years to expose the influence streams that affect Supreme Court decisions.
However, left-leaning members of the Court have also been supported by so-called dark money groups, most recently Ketanji Brown Jackson who was backed by a dark money network led by the wealthy and influential Arabella Advisors consulting firm.
As Kimberly Strassel wrote in the Wall Street Journal, Democrats like Whitehouse know so much about “dark money” because “his side has used it longer, and does so far bigger and better.”
Demand Justice, a front group for Arabella, spent $1 million in funds obtained from shadowy donors successfully pushing for Jackson to be named to the seat.
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