Calls mount for binding SCOTUS ethics code after anti-abortion crusader alleges Hobby Lobby leak; ABA Journal, November 21, 2022

DEBRA CASSENS WEISS, ABA Journal; Calls mount for binding SCOTUS ethics code after anti-abortion crusader alleges Hobby Lobby leak

"The New York Times and other publications covered the reaction to Schenck’s allegations. Reactions included:

• Fix the Court, a court transparency group, called for passage of the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act, which would require justices to write and adopt an ethics code; strengthen recusal rules; and adopt disclosure rules for gifts, income and reimbursements. Similarly, Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said in a tweet the justices should “operate under the same ethics rules as every other federal judge.” (Fix the Court, the New York Times)

•Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, a legal advocacy organization, said the Senate Judiciary Committee should investigate the new leak report. (The Washington Post)

• Louis J. Virelli III, a professor at the Stetson University College of Law, said revelations are creating public concern, and “the cost for the justices will be more transparency.” Requiring the justices to disclose with whom they meet, particularly those with interests in a decision, would be constitutional, he said. (The New York Times)

• Alicia Bannon, director of the judiciary program at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, criticized “a whole bunch of bad incentives & broken processes that encourage today’s politicized dynamics” in a tweet. “18-year terms for justices + decoupling appointments & vacancies would be a good place to start,” she tweeted. “Finally, this is also an opportunity for leadership from the justices. SCOTUS could adopt a binding code of conduct tomorrow. They could commit to greater transparency, including re: recusal. They could stop appearing w/ politicians and litigants. Legitimacy must be earned.” (The National Law Journal)

• In a blog post, Paul Horwitz, a professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, said the revelations raise questions that include: What is the right balance between isolation and non-isolation for judges and justices? And how many actions described by the New York Times are not only legal but generally treated as the way the system works? (PrawfsBlawg via Original Jurisdiction)"