The Supreme Court of the United States has announced its first formal code of ethics governing the conduct of its nine justices, following months of outside pressure over revelations of undisclosed luxury trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors.
The policy, agreed to by all justices and put in place, does not appear to impose any enforcement mechanism and leaves compliance entirely up to each justice, critics said.
The nine members of the nation’s highest court are the only federal judges not explicitly subject to ethical oversight, and pressure has been mounting from Democrats in the Senate for them to adopt a code of conduct.
The nine-page code contains sections codifying that justices should not let outside relationships influence their official conduct or judgement, spelling out restrictions on their participation in fundraising and reiterating limits on the accepting of gifts. It also states that justices should not “to any substantial degree” use judicial resources or staff for non-official activities.
A commentary released with the code elaborating on some of its provisions said that justices who are weighing a speaking engagement should “consider whether doing so would create an appearance of impropriety in the minds of reasonable members of the public”.
The justices said they have long adhered to ethics standards and suggested that criticism of the court over ethics was the product of misunderstanding, rather than any missteps by the justices.
