[Official] Supreme Court/judicial professional ethics thread

Os Trigonum · Jun 28, 2023

deserves its own thread

for starters:

https://ethicsalarms.com/2023/06/28/regarding-justice-alitos-appearance-of-impropriety-scandal/

Regarding Justice Alito’s “Appearance Of Impropriety” Scandal
JUNE 28, 2023 / JACK MARSHALL

Justice Samuel Alito did not disclose a 2008 trip on the private jet of Paul Singer, a billionaire GOP donor, and did not recuse himself from a later case involving Singer’s hedge fund. Since the Supreme Court is now under a sustained attack by Democrats and progressives, partially because of the Dobbs ruling (How dare unelected judges rule that unelected judges shouldn’t decide matters the Constitution leaves to legislators?) and partially because they see the current conservative-leaning Court as its greatest roadblock to a socialist, quasi-totalitarian Nirvana, his best, most responsible and most ethical course was to admit he made a mistake, show that he understood the public’s concern, and vow to be more mindful of his conduct going forward.

Instead, Alito penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed defending his indefensible conduct, declaring himself as innocent as a newborn lamb, and, of course, making things worse. His piece was full of legalistic hair-splitting to explain why he was well-within the requirements of the Ethics in Government Act, but the universal ethics requirement that judges must avoid the appearance of impropriety does not rest upon legal niceties. It rests upon how the public perceives things, and most of the public can’t read a statute and don’t read court opinions.

What they can do is be influenced by the news media’s slant on the news, and most of the news media, being propaganda agents of the Democrats, is dedicated to the task of undermining the Supreme Court’s legitimacy generally and the credibility of its conservative members specifically. Out of arrogance (As in, “Nyah, nyah, nyah, can’t touch us, we’re here for life!“) or mind-blowing stupidity, the two most conservative justices, Alito and Clarence Thomas, have decided to give their critics just what they crave. Though it may be true that the Left’s representatives on the Court have engaged in similar ethics breaches, either they have covered their tracks better or the over-matched conservative media sleuths haven’t been as diligent or thorough in their investigations. as their progressive counterparts like ProPublica have been. And it doesn’t matter: what Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas did in accepting trips and favors from wealthy conservatives was wrong, and should be addressed.

Alito’s transgression was far less serious than Thomas’s, as it was only one lavish trip, it occurred 15 years ago, and the SCOTUS case Alito should have recused himself from was a 7-1 ruling in which his participation wasn’t decisive. Never mind: coming after the revelations that Thomas has been surreptitiously partying and cavorting with a wealthy conservative, his family and friends at the tycoon’s expense for years, Alito’s ethics blindness creates a genuine crisis for the Court, and it must be taken seriously by Chief Justice Roberts, who thus far has done nothing that we know about.

The Supreme Court needs a written ethics code and a procedure for enforcing it. Its traditional stance that as the best of the best in the American judiciary, the Justices need no stinkin’ ethics rules no longer holds up.

Obviously, they do.

Invisible Fan · Jun 28, 2023

This goes back to our lax enforcement of white collar crimes and the porousness of the laws that dictate the crimes.

A big reason why the Biden Bribe allegations hasn't caught fire is because we're desensitized to these cases as Business as Usual. I mean sitting Senator Bob Menendez wasn't acquitted for lack of evidence of bribery and corruption but rather the law itself (and a 2016 SCOTUS decision for VA gov Bob McDonnell) made it hard to convict him. It's a laundry list of bad actors all across government that simple inside trading in plain sight is now acceptable.

The idea of members creating rules to police themselves is mostly palliative. I guess you need people storming the gates for real change on this.

rocketsjudoka · Jun 28, 2023

Invisible Fan said: ↑

This goes back to our lax enforcement of white collar crimes and the porousness of the laws that dictate the crimes.

A big reason why the Biden Bribe allegations hasn't caught fire is because we're desensitized to these cases as Business as Usual. I mean sitting Senator Bob Menendez wasn't acquitted for lack of evidence of bribery and corruption but rather the law itself (and a 2016 SCOTUS decision for VA gov Bob McDonnell) made it hard to convict him. It's a laundry list of bad actors all across government that simple inside trading in plain sight is now acceptable.

The idea of members creating rules to police themselves is mostly palliative. I guess you need people storming the gates for real change on this.
Click to expand...

And the USSC in power and scope is beyond all other white collar positions.

It gets back to the irony that those who are meant to be the ultimate arbiters of laws and ethics feel free to flaunt those.

tinman · Jul 12, 2023

Os Trigonum said: ↑

deserves its own thread

for starters:

https://ethicsalarms.com/2023/06/28/regarding-justice-alitos-appearance-of-impropriety-scandal/

Regarding Justice Alito’s “Appearance Of Impropriety” Scandal
JUNE 28, 2023 / JACK MARSHALL

Justice Samuel Alito did not disclose a 2008 trip on the private jet of Paul Singer, a billionaire GOP donor, and did not recuse himself from a later case involving Singer’s hedge fund. Since the Supreme Court is now under a sustained attack by Democrats and progressives, partially because of the Dobbs ruling (How dare unelected judges rule that unelected judges shouldn’t decide matters the Constitution leaves to legislators?) and partially because they see the current conservative-leaning Court as its greatest roadblock to a socialist, quasi-totalitarian Nirvana, his best, most responsible and most ethical course was to admit he made a mistake, show that he understood the public’s concern, and vow to be more mindful of his conduct going forward.

Instead, Alito penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed defending his indefensible conduct, declaring himself as innocent as a newborn lamb, and, of course, making things worse. His piece was full of legalistic hair-splitting to explain why he was well-within the requirements of the Ethics in Government Act, but the universal ethics requirement that judges must avoid the appearance of impropriety does not rest upon legal niceties. It rests upon how the public perceives things, and most of the public can’t read a statute and don’t read court opinions.

What they can do is be influenced by the news media’s slant on the news, and most of the news media, being propaganda agents of the Democrats, is dedicated to the task of undermining the Supreme Court’s legitimacy generally and the credibility of its conservative members specifically. Out of arrogance (As in, “Nyah, nyah, nyah, can’t touch us, we’re here for life!“) or mind-blowing stupidity, the two most conservative justices, Alito and Clarence Thomas, have decided to give their critics just what they crave. Though it may be true that the Left’s representatives on the Court have engaged in similar ethics breaches, either they have covered their tracks better or the over-matched conservative media sleuths haven’t been as diligent or thorough in their investigations. as their progressive counterparts like ProPublica have been. And it doesn’t matter: what Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas did in accepting trips and favors from wealthy conservatives was wrong, and should be addressed.

Alito’s transgression was far less serious than Thomas’s, as it was only one lavish trip, it occurred 15 years ago, and the SCOTUS case Alito should have recused himself from was a 7-1 ruling in which his participation wasn’t decisive. Never mind: coming after the revelations that Thomas has been surreptitiously partying and cavorting with a wealthy conservative, his family and friends at the tycoon’s expense for years, Alito’s ethics blindness creates a genuine crisis for the Court, and it must be taken seriously by Chief Justice Roberts, who thus far has done nothing that we know about.

The Supreme Court needs a written ethics code and a procedure for enforcing it. Its traditional stance that as the best of the best in the American judiciary, the Justices need no stinkin’ ethics rules no longer holds up.

Obviously, they do.

Click to expand...

Andre0087 · Jul 20, 2023

Senate panel set to vote on US Supreme Court ethics reform

WASHINGTON, July 20 (Reuters) - A Senate panel on Thursday was set to debate and vote on Democratic-backed legislation that would mandate a binding ethics code for the U.S. Supreme Court following revelations that some conservative justices have failed to disclose luxury trips and real estate transactions.

The measure, however, faces Republican opposition that may doom its chances even if it is approved by the Judiciary Committee at its session due to start at 9:30 a.m. (1330 GMT).

Introduced by Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the bill would impose on the top U.S. judicial body new requirements for financial disclosures and for recusal from cases in which a justice may have a conflict of interest. It would require the justices to adopt a code of conduct as well as create a mechanism to investigate alleged violations.

Unlike other members of the federal judiciary, the Supreme Court's nine life-tenured justices have no binding ethics code of conduct. They are subject, as many high-level federal officials are, to disclosure laws requiring them to report outside income and certain gifts, though food and other "personal hospitality" such as lodging at an individual's residence is generally exempted.

Justices also decide for themselves whether to step aside from cases involving a possible conflict of interest.

The legislation would face long odds to win passage on the Senate floor, where it would need some Republican support to advance. And it appears to have little chance to get through the Republican-led House of Representatives.

The news outlet ProPublica has detailed ties spanning decades between conservative Justice Clarence Thomas and billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow, including real estate purchases and luxury travel paid for by the Dallas businessman. ProPublica also has reported that conservative Justice Samuel Alito failed to disclose a private flight to Alaska provided by a billionaire hedge fund manager whose business interests have come before the court as the jurist took a luxury fishing trip.

Separately, the news outlet Politico has reported that conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch failed to disclose that the buyer of a Colorado property in which he had a stake was the chief executive of a major law firm whose attorneys have been involved in various Supreme Court cases.

Democratic senators have said these reports show that the court cannot be trusted to police itself.

Some Republican senators have sought to portray the ethics reform push as an effort by liberals and Democrats to smear the court as its 6-3 conservative majority continues to steer the law in a rightward direction. They have said the court should set its own rules and have questioned whether lawmakers possess the power to impose ethics standards on it under the U.S. Constitution's division of powers among the federal government's executive, legislative and judicial branches.

Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/senate-panel-set-vote-us-supreme-court-ethics-reform-2023-07-20/

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