The Supreme Court on Monday with neither notice nor fanfare released a code of conduct signed by the nine justices after months of criticism over how the high court handles ethics questions.
While lower courts are bound by a code of ethics, which some Supreme Court justices have said they voluntarily comply with, the high court had not been compelled to follow an ethics code.
Still, a handful of justices had voiced support for adopting an ethics code independently.
Among the principles that each justice has signed onto include provisions on outside influence, financial activities and fundraising, political activity and recusal.
Outlining a clear recusal process was among congressional Democrats’ priorities, as they cited reports of outside influence that they believed would warrant in some cases the justices’ recusal.
Persons:
“, ’ recusal, ”
Organizations:
Judicial