U.S. Congressman Ted Lieu slammed the U.S. Supreme Court for having “ZERO binding ethics rules,” claiming the conduct of SCOTUS justices has created a situation where the Court’s “approval ratings are now at its lowest in history and the public increasingly views the Court as corrupt and illegitimate.”
[NOTE: Lieu doesn’t cite his source, but polls do show a cratering of public approval.]
Lieu, like Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and others, believe it’s time to codify conduct for the Justices, just as ethics guidelines and restrictions are codified for lower courts.
Americans used to respect the Supreme Court. The Court’s approval ratings are now at its lowest in history and the public increasingly views the Court as corrupt and illegitimate. One reason is Justices have ZERO binding ethics rules. That’s why Congress must impose ethics rules. https://t.co/b7qMBTK1Y8
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) July 11, 2023
Revelations about individual SCOTUS Justices have been in the spotlight since a ProPublica investigation revealed the close — and money-soaked — relationship between conservative billionaire Harlan Crow and Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Samuel Alito faced similar accusations of allegedly accepting favors and hospitality from powerful conservatives — accusations to which Alito took umbrage in a Wall Street Journal editorial.
But it isn’t just Republican Justices — Lieu’s excoriation of the Court comes as Justice Sonia Sotomayor is also being called out for possibly improper staff use to promote her sideline as an author, with an AP story claiming her staff “prodded” organizations and universities to purchase the books.
At long last, my Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act is headed to a vote in @JudiciaryDems.
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) July 10, 2023
If the Court won't act to restore public trust, we will. https://t.co/YBSpRPLZW6
The Supreme Court itself issued a defense of Sotomayor’s bookselling practices, writing, in part: “Judges, including Justices, routinely travel and speak to university, college and law school audiences and affiliated individuals and entities. Judicial staff play an important role in assisting on issues of ethics, travel, and security.”
But the ethics the Court cites in Sotomayor’s defense are part of an honor system the Court is encouraged to abide by, a fact that gives rise to the “ZERO” rules claim Lieu makes when referring to what one publication calls the “ethical honor system” of the Court.
Lieu and other critics believe the honor system isn’t working and isn’t a strong enough deterrent against extrajudicial influence on the SCOTUS Justices.
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