U.S. Supreme Court,
Ethics/Professional Responsibility
Apr. 11, 2023
The imperative need for an ethics code for Supreme Court justices
Several steps should be taken to help ensure that there is both the perception and the reality of a Court complying with the highest ethical standards.
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).
The revelations about Justice Clarence Thomas accepting lavish vacations and not disclosing them are just the latest demonstration that it is imperative that there be an ethics code for Supreme Court justices and a method of enforcing it. Time and again, Thomas has flouted basic principles of legal ethics and yet nothing is done about it. This unnecessarily undermines the Supreme Court's legitimacy and it is long overdue to apply judicial ethics to the justices.
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