The U.S. Supreme Court released its own “Code of Conduct” on Monday evening 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 Code of Conduct comes after intense pressure from liberal activist groups for the justices to implement an ethics code. Those activists particularly have taken aim at Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, accusing him of violating the court’s ethics rules.
The justices note that most of the rules and principles included in the Code of Conduct are not new, but acknowledge that the “absence of a code” had led 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,” the court said in a statement, “which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct.”
All nine justices signed the Code of Conduct: Thomas, Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Sonia Sotomayor, and Chief Justice John Roberts.
Canon 1 of the Code states that a justice should uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary.
Canon 2 states that a justice should avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities, including respect for the law, outside influence, and nondiscriminatory organization memberships.
Canon 3 states that a justice should perform the duties of the office fairly, impartially and diligently.
Canon 4 states that a justice may engage in extrajudicial activities that are consistent with the obligations of the judicial office, such as law-related pursuits and civic, charitable, educational, religious, and government activities.
Canon 5 states that a justice should refrain from political activity.
An additional note to the Code of Conduct states that the justices must also comply with the U.S. Constitution, with current laws relating to judicial ethics, and with current judicial conference regulations on things such as gifts, outside earned income, honoraria, and financial disclosures.
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