1 year ago
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Four years ago, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan told a House appropriations subcommittee that Chief Justice John Roberts was considering whether the court should adopt its own ethics code.
“The chief justice is studying the question of whether to have a code of judicial conduct that is applicable only to the United States Supreme Court,” Kagan said. “That’s something we have not discussed as a conference yet, and has pros and cons I’m sure, but it’s something that’s being thought very seriously about.”
Justice Samuel Alito told the panel that it would probably be unconstitutional to make the Supreme Court subject to the same code as the rest of the federal judiciary. Which makes it absolutely no surprise that Roberts’ exploration of the idea has gone nowhere in the past four years despite the court’s deepening spiral into illegitimacy. This is why the issue has not gone away, and why one Democratic senator is considering forcing the issue.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen is chair of the Senate appropriations subcommittee in charge of the court’s budget. That’s why what he’s saying is relevant here. He’s planning to use Congress’ purse strings to push the issue with the court.
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