Supreme Court Announces Code of Ethics Following Criticism

The Supreme Court announced the adoption of an ethics code for Justices on Monday, following scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers and left-rated media outlets.

For Context: Earlier this year, ProPublica (Lean Left bias) published a report stating that for over two decades, Justice Clarence Thomas had “accepted luxury trips” from Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow without disclosing them. Similar reports regarding other Justices were published in the following months, sparking criticism from the Senate Judiciary Committee and debate over Congress’ authority to regulate the court.

Key Quotes: According to a statement attached to the memo, the code of conduct aims to “set out succinctly and gather in one place the ethics rules and principles that guide the conduct of the Members of the Court.” The absence of a formal code of ethics “has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the Justices of this Court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules. To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this Code, which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct.”

How the Media Covered It: Fox News (Right bias) reported that the ethics code comes in response to backlash from Democrats regarding Justices going on vacations “paid for by friends,” leaving out the specific details and allegations of ethical violations. HuffPost (Left bias) explicitly deemed the behavior of certain Justices “unethical” and included only quotes from individuals critical of the new ethics code.