1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

The United States Supreme Court is currently the only body in the entire federal government that is allowed to police its own ethical conduct. While the Justices recently adopted a formal "Code of Conduct," it contains a fatal flaw: it lacks any independent mechanism for enforcement. This allows individual Justices to serve as the sole judges of their own conflicts of interest, undisclosed corporate gifts, and recusal motions. When Justices are insulated from accountability, the highest court in the land is effectively left operating with the lowest ethical guardrails, treating the civil rights of citizens as secondary to corporate influence. Fox Rothschild LLP Congress possesses the clear constitutional authority under Article III to regulate the administration, budget, and oversight of the federal judiciary. We are done with a self-policing loophole that allows the High Court to shield itself from scrutiny while issuing rulings that impact the lives, health, and civil liberties of millions of Americans. Congress must act immediately to establish an independent, external enforcement body with total authority to investigate misconduct on the Court. New York City Bar Association The Lack of Accountability: Leaving the Supreme Court to self-enforce its ethics rules undermines the bedrock principle of the rule of law: • The Violation of Due Process: True judicial independence requires impartiality. When Justices rule on cases involving major industries, wealthy benefactors, or political networks to which they have personal ties, it denies everyday citizens their constitutional right to a fair, unbiased legal hearing.
Fox Rothschild LLP

 • The Failure of Self-Regulation: History and recent corporate-shielding decisions prove that no institution can effectively investigate itself. Without a binding, mandatory enforcement mechanism, a code of ethics is merely a list of suggestions. The Demand: I demand that Congress immediately exercise its legislative and budgetary authority to pass the framework established in the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act and the Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act to mandate the following reforms: 1 Establish an Independent Office of Investigative Counsel: Create a fully funded, permanent, and completely independent investigative body outside the control of the Supreme Court. This office must be empowered to receive public complaints, subpoena records, conduct exhaustive investigations into alleged ethical violations or undisclosed gifts by Justices, and deliver public reports directly to Congress.
Senator Cory Booker+ 1

 2 Remove the Self-Recusal Loophole: Mandate that any motion requiring a Justice to recuse themselves due to a conflict of interest must be reviewed and decided by a randomly selected panel of Chief Judges from the lower federal U.S. District Courts and Courts of Appeals—not by the challenged Justice themselves. 3 Enforce Strict Financial and Gift Bans: Codify strict statutory caps on personal hospitality and luxury travel, aligning the Supreme Court with the same stringent gift restrictions that apply to members of Congress and all lower federal judges. 4 Mandate Transparency and Public Explanations: Require Justices to provide comprehensive, written public justifications for every decision to grant or deny a recusal motion, ensuring total visibility into potential judicial bias.
Senator Jeff Merkley

 The highest court in the land must be held to the highest standard of accountability. I urge you to co-sponsor and vote for the SCERT Act and the Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act, strip the Court of its self-policing shield, and establish an independent body to enforce true ethical compliance.