Justice Kagan calls for a way to enforce Supreme Court ethics code
Source: Washington Post
Justice Kagan calls for a way to enforce Supreme Court ethics code
Justice Elena Kagan suggested Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. could appoint an outside panel of highly respected judges to review allegations of wrongdoing.
By Ann E. Marimow
July 25, 2024 at 4:41 p.m. EDT
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Justice Elena Kagan said Thursday that she would support the creation of a committee of judges to examine potential violations of the Supreme Court’s new ethics code, speaking out as President Biden and others are increasingly calling for reform at the high court.
In an interview before a crowd of judges and lawyers at a judicial conference, Kagan suggested that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. could appoint an outside panel of highly respected, experienced judges to review allegations of wrongdoing by the nine justices.
Last fall, in response to criticism from Democratic lawmakers and outside experts about perceived ethics violations, Roberts announced that the court for the first time had agreed to abide by an ethics code specific to the justices. But the policy did not include a way to examine alleged misconduct, or to clear or sanction justices who might violate the rules. Since then, a new round of ethical questions, and the court’s rulings this term, have increased calls for change.
Kagan said the court’s code of conduct, embraced by all the justices, is a “good one,” but said criticism about the inability to enforce it is “fair.” ... “Rules usually have enforcement mechanisms attached to them, and this one, this set of rules, does not,” she said, adding that “however hard it is, we could and should try to figure out some mechanism for doing this.”
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By Ann Marimow
Ann Marimow covers the Supreme Court for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2005, and has spent a decade writing about legal affairs and the federal judiciary. She previously covered state government and politics in California, New Hampshire and Maryland. Twitter https://twitter.com/amarimow
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/25/supreme-court-kagan-ethics-code-reform/
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