The Senate Judiciary Committee has announced that it’s scheduled a vote on a U.S. Supreme Court ethics legislation later this month.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut welcomes the move.
“It makes no sense that every federal judge is bound by a code of ethics except the nine who sit on the highest court in the country,” he said.
The recent revelations in the media of questionable ethics involving Justice Clarence Thomas reinforce the need for a code of conduct for the justices on the high court.
Murphy is a Democratic who has introduced legislation requiring a code of conduct for the U.S. Supreme Court in every Congress since 2011.
“This is unacceptable. If somebody was doing this in Congress they would be expelled.” he said
“The fact that the court seems to be rallying around Clarence Thomas is really disturbing to me. Just as disturbing is the decision by most Republicans to rally around Thomas as well. I mean some things are just right and wrong. Not everything has to be partisan,” Murphy said.
He hopes for some Republican support for the legislation.
“I’m still trying to find significant Republican support for my ethics proposal. I’ve had this proposal for 10 years, long before the Supreme Court revelations of the last few months. And hopefully I'll get some Republicans who want to work with me on this,” said Murphy
His most recent Supreme Court Ethics Act proposal would require the appointment of an Ethics Investigations Counsel and have the justices publicly disclose their recusal decisions.
