Supreme Court Ethics Code Backfires Immediately

The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday that it was introducing a new code of conduct for justices amid ongoing calls to implement an ethics code, prompting criticism on social media.

"The undersigned Justices are promulgating this Code of Conduct to set out succinctly and gather in one place the ethics rules and principles that guide the conduct of the Members of the Court. For the most part these rules and principles are not new," the court said in a statement.

"The absence of a Code, however, has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the Justices of this Court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules. To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this Code, which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct."

In recent months, some Americans have urged the court to adopt a code of ethics following reports that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito received gifts and trips from billionaires. ProPublica published a report in August detailing that Thomas received several trips and traveled aboard the private jet owned by billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow.

The MoveOn organization created a petition this year calling for the court to adopt a "clear and enforceable code of ethics."

The Supreme Court Code of Conduct released on Monday includes several canons, such as "a Justice should uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary," "A Justice should avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities," and "A Justice may engage in extrajudicial activities that are consistent with the obligations of the Judicial Office."

"Nothing in the 14-page document, or the one-page cover note, addresses the elephant in the room: *Whatever* rules the justices *say* they are bound to follow, *who* is going to enforce those rules—and how?" Stephen I. Vladeck, the Charles Alan Wright chair in federal courts at the University of Texas School of Law, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman responded to the post from Vladeck and said, "I think the answer is clear from the silence..."

Other social media users also mocked the code of conduct, such as law professor Anthony Michael Kreis, who wrote on X: "A Code of Conduct with no meaningful enforcement mechanism is a mere gesture."

X user Jamison Foser wrote: "The word 'must' appears 6 times in the Supreme Court's new ethics code. The word 'should' appears 53 times."

The X account for the No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen podcast wrote: "The Supreme Court just announced an arbitrary "ethics code" for justices. They didn't explain how it would work, who would enforce it, and it doesn't include financial disclosures. The effort is a PR attempt to save face."

Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Supreme Court via email for comment.