![]() ![]() Likewise, because the Supreme Court is the final court in the U.S. Therefore, wrote Roberts, each justice cannot recuse “as a matter of convenience or simply to avoid controversy,” because litigants could be needlessly deprived of having a full court hear their case.įinally, can the justices themselves police a fellow justice’s decision to recuse or not to recuse? That’s unlikely, wrote Roberts, because a court generally “ does not sit in judgment of one of its own members’ recusal decision in the course of deciding a case.” He wrote in his annual report on the federal judiciary that justices not only consult the code “as a key source of guidance,” but also turn to numerous other authorities to govern their conduct, especially in light of unique ethical considerations presented at the Supreme Court.įor example, unlike other courts, there is no substitute justice available to fill in when a justice recuses himself or herself. Constitution creates the Supreme Court – as opposed to the rest of the federal courts, which are established by Congress – the direct application of a code on the justices would violate the legal doctrine requiring a “separation of powers” among the branches.Ĭhief Justice John Roberts asserted in 2011 that the adoption of an ethics code was unnecessary. One view is that Congress’ imposing an ethical code on justices is not only unnecessary, but might also be unconstitutional. The arguments for and against more meaningful ethical rules and oversight of the justices are complex. Yet despite these documented occurrences, public outcry continues when justices have declined to recuse themselves in cases in which there are strong indications that their impartiality might reasonably be questioned. Supreme Court’s October term of 2020 alone, justices recused themselves close to 250 times for reasons including stock ownership in a company involved in the case, previous work on the case or having been personally named in the lawsuit. The debate on this issue is not academic, because the instances in which justices have recused themselves are surprisingly frequent.įor example, one judicial watchdog organization reported that in the U.S. Court doesn’t police itselfĬhief Justice John Roberts has said that adoption of an ethics code for the justices is unnecessary. The House has failed to take further action on the bill. The resolution is a nonbinding and symbolic gesture, and its fate is unresolved, as it remains in committee.Ī similar House bill also was introduced in 2021 to require the Judicial Conference of the United States, which oversees the code, to make the code applicable to justices. House of Representatives resolution called on the justices to subject themselves to the code or to establish their own ethical code. The Senate bill met a similar fate.Īnd even more recently, in 2021, a U.S. ![]() The House bill never made it out of committee. In 2015, bills were introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate that would have mandated the Supreme Court to establish a code of ethics. Unfortunately, Congress did not include justices in the law that sets up the procedure for enforcing complaints about the judiciary and imposing discipline when a judge acts inappropriately, such as when violating the disqualification law.Ĭongress sought to bring attention to this gap. Dead end in CongressĪcting on the assumption that it has the authority to impose rules on the justices, Congress in 1974 specifically included justices in a law requiring the disqualification of judges and magistrate judges when they engage in conduct that mirrors the types of prohibited conduct covered by the code. Notably absent from coverage under the code are the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Thus, judges covered under the code need to recuse themselves from cases whenever their impartiality might reasonably be questioned. Judges must not only avoid actual conflicts of interest, they must also avoid the appearance of impropriety.
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