About F%$#ing Time

The House Judiciary Committee has passed out a bill requiring that the Supreme Court abide by an ethics code. 

Unlike the rest of the Federal Judiciary, there is currently ethics code for SCOTUS, which means that, for example, a justice would be required to recuse himself if their spouse were paid by an organization with an interest in the case before them. Mr. Subliminal: Clarence and Ginny Thomas

Rather unsurprisingly, this was a party line vote.  Republicans are objectively pro-Supreme Court corruption:

Recent controversies aside, efforts to pass Supreme Court reform legislation have been in the works for years. Now ethics reform is drawing national attention as polls show that public confidence in the court is plummeting. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., announced sweeping ethics legislationon Tuesday that would impose a code of conduct on the justices and would ban them from owning securities. And on Wednesday night, the House Judiciary Committee voted 22-16 along party lines to move a court ethics bill, delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, to the full House. Democrats in the Senate then introduced a companion bill.

The House bill, known as the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act of 2022, would require the court to create a code of conduct for the justices and employees of the court. Justices and their clerks would be required to adopt disclosure standards, for gifts, reimbursements, and income they receive, that at least match congressional standards. The bill would require a justice to recuse when a party to a case lobbied for a justice’s confirmation or gave gifts to a justice or a justice’s immediate family. The bill would also require amicus groups to disclose who participated in and funded their briefs.

This is long overdue.