On Monday, November 13, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued its first-ever “code of conduct”, a 15-page document outlining the ethical behavior of US Supreme Court justices. However, in an unsurprising turn of events, the ethics code is under fire for its inadequacy in addressing major issues that prompted its inception.
According to Reuters, unlike other members of the federal judiciary, justices of the Supreme Court of the United States have long acted without a formal code of conduct. Nonetheless, all of that changed with a ProPublica report on a number of justices whose actions were of misconduct. So, for the first time in history, the Supreme Court has published a formal ethics code due to public pressure.
The 15-page document, according to a statement issued by the court, seeks to“dispel” any “misunderstanding” that may have led some to believe that the justices “regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules.”
Some specifications in the new code of conduct include financial transactions and recusals. However, according to Vox, it includes only one provision limiting gift acceptance which was the main cause of concern in the ProPublica Report.
According to npr.org, critics remain “unsatisfied” with the code. Specifically, the major cause of concern for many is its apparent lack of enforcement mechanisms. The progressive group United In Democracy said, “While it's great to see the Supreme Court finally respond to public pressure and acknowledge that they have serious ethics and corruption issues that must be addressed, the code of ethics announced today is woefully inadequate."
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