The Supreme Court sees a new call for reform from a prominent Bar Association

The New York City Bar Association has determined that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to enact “binding and enforceable rules of ethics” for members of the Supreme Court, adding to calls for the nation’s highest court to face reforms after a series of scandals.

In a report released Monday, the New York City Bar said lawmakers have the authority to act on Supreme Court reform under three provisions of the Constitution, including the Necessary and Proper Clause of Article I, which the City Bar said is “the clearest basis for Congress’s authority.” to adopt a binding code of ethics for the Supreme Court.”

This clause provides that Congress has the power to make “all laws which shall be necessary and proper” relating to the legislative power, as well as “all other powers delegated by this Constitution to the Government of the United States, or to any department or officer thereof.”

“This provision expressly authorizes Congress to legislate to implement the powers of the coordinating divisions,” reads a statement accompanying the Bar Association’s report on Monday.

The Bar Association also said the impeachment provision in Article II gives Congress the power to impose an ethics code on judges because the provision “lies at the heart of our system of checks and balances.” The report also drew attention to the provisions of Art. III of the Constitution, which states that a judge may hold his office only on condition of “good behavior”.

The report comes as President Joe Biden and other Democrats are pushing for Supreme Court reform, including introducing term limits for judges and requiring the court to enforce a code of conduct. Such calls followed a string of controversies surrounding conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, both of whom were accused of accepting luxury gifts and vacations from wealthy Republican Party donors without properly disclosing them on federal financial forms.

The justices also faced questions about their potential bias against former President Donald Trump. In July, the Supreme Court ruled that the former president was immune from criminal charges for measures he took in connection with “official acts” performed in an office covered by presidential immunity, a decision that is key to the array of criminal cases Trump is facing while running for office. second term in the presidential elections. White House.

Thomas was urged to recuse himself from matters related to the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election as his wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, pressured officials to dismiss Trump’s 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

Alito also later faced calls for his denial New York Times reported that following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, two separate symbols related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election were displayed outside judges’ houses.

The Supreme Court actually adopted its first code of ethics in November 2023, which mimics many of the standards lower court judges follow. Democrats, however, argue that the code does not go far enough given that there is no outside body to hold judges to its standards.

The City Bar Association wrote in its report that “the need for Supreme Court judges to adhere to the highest ethical standards is an impartial issue because – as the Supreme Court itself emphasized – public trust in the honesty and neutrality of the courts is the basis of the rule of law.”

“There has been an erosion of trust in the Supreme Court and doubts have arisen about whether it follows the ordinary rules of ethical conduct that apply to other judges,” the report concluded.

The Bar Association added that it “would welcome the Court itself to meaningfully address the ongoing need for Supreme Court ethics reform,” but that the Court’s “voluntary and unenforceable 2023 Code” makes clear that at least some judges are free to ignore laws already enacted by Congress to regulate their ethical obligations.”

“It is time for Congress to take action to reaffirm its primary lawmaking role and ensure that our Supreme Court justices demonstrate the ‘good conduct’ the Constitution requires of them as a condition of retention,” the report concluded. myself.

Newsweek on Wednesday, he asked the Supreme Court’s Public Information Office via e-mail for comment.

Republican lawmakers are furiously resisting calls to reform the Supreme Court, arguing that doing so would violate the separation of powers among the branches of the federal government.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said in July that Biden’s reform plans “will be dead the moment they arrive” in his chamber, arguing that the proposals represent an attempt to “delegitimize the court.”

“This dangerous gambit by the Biden-Harris administration is dead the moment it arrives in the House,” Johnson said in a statement at the time.

Trump has also criticized calls for Supreme Court reform, writing in a mid-July post for Truth Social that Biden’s proposals were “unconstitutional.”

“Democrats are trying to interfere in the presidential election and destroy our justice system by attacking their political opponent, me, and our honorable Supreme Court,” the former president wrote. “We must fight for our fair and independent courts and protect our country.”