Following the release of a Supreme Court code of conduct, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington President Noah Bookbinder released the following statement:

“The Supreme Court has taken an important step forward by acknowledging the need for our highest court, like virtually every workplace in America, to have a code of conduct and adopting one. It is also positive that the Court’s rules on disqualification incorporate some of the important provisions suggested by CREW and the Berkeley Judicial Institute. However, the rules adopted by the Court contain too many loopholes and gaps to be truly effective and do not yet include an enforcement mechanism. Additionally, the new Code troublingly anticipates the rule of disqualification being overcome by other considerations. This is a crucial start, but the Court must strengthen these rules and should quickly put in place a meaningful enforcement mechanism.”

 

Photo by Phil Roeder under a Creative Commons license.