1. United States
2. Ore.
3. Letter

I urge you to support HR3513, the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act of 2025, which addresses the corrupting influence of dark money on our highest court. This legislation takes essential steps to expose the financial interests that currently operate in the shadows of Supreme Court decision-making and helps get dark money out of our judicial system. The bill requires parties and amici curiae to disclose gifts, income, or reimbursements provided to justices and their law clerks within the two years prior to proceedings. Critically, organizations filing amicus briefs must identify all contributors who provided at least three percent of their gross annual revenue. This provision directly targets the dark money networks that have spent millions influencing judicial nominations and decisions while hiding behind nonprofit structures that conceal their donors. Under HR3513, justices would be disqualified from cases where a party or affiliate made lobbying contacts or spent substantial funds supporting the justice's nomination within six years before assignment to a proceeding. This addresses the documented pattern of special interests spending heavily to secure favorable justices, then appearing before those same justices in cases affecting their financial interests. The six-year lookback period ensures that the influence of nomination campaigns cannot be quickly forgotten. Supreme Court justices currently operate without the binding ethics rules that apply to every other federal judge. This double standard has enabled justices to accept undisclosed gifts from wealthy benefactors with business before the Court and to refuse recusal in cases involving their financial supporters. HR3513 requires the Court to adopt a formal code of conduct within 180 days and establishes investigation panels to review complaints. The Federal Judicial Center would conduct biennial compliance studies, and the Administrative Office would perform annual audits of disclosure requirements, creating accountability mechanisms that currently do not exist. These transparency measures are essential to restoring public confidence in judicial impartiality and ensuring that justice is not for sale to the highest bidder.