II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 325 

To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for a code of conduct 

for justices and judges of the courts of the United States, establish 

an ethics investigations counsel, and require disclosure of recusals. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2023 

Mr. MURPHY (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOKER, 

Mr. BROWN, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. CARPER, Mr. CASEY, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, 

Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mr. 

HICKENLOOPER, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. LUJA ́N, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. 

MERKLEY, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. PETERS, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. SHAHEEN, 

Ms. SMITH, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. WYDEN, and Ms. 

HIRONO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for a 

code of conduct for justices and judges of the courts 

of the United States, establish an ethics investigations 

counsel, and require disclosure of recusals. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supreme Court Ethics 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CODE OF CONDUCT. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 57 of title 28, United 

3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘§ 964. Code of conduct 

6 ‘‘Not later than 1 year after the date of the enact7 ment of this section, the Judicial Conference of the United 

8 States shall issue a code of conduct, which applies to each 

9 justice and judge of the courts of the United States, except 

10 that the code of conduct may include provisions that are 

11 applicable only to certain categories of judges or justices.’’. 

12 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

13 The table of sections for chapter 57 of title 28, United 

14 States Code, is amended by adding after the item related 

15 to section 963 the following: 

‘‘964. Code of conduct.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF ETHICS INVESTIGATIONS 

17 COUNSEL AND REPORTING PROTOCOL. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

19 date on which the Judicial Conference of the United 

20 States issues a code of conduct under section 964 of title 

21 28, United States Code, as added by section 2(a) of this 

22 Act, the Supreme Court of the United States shall appoint 

23 and fix the compensation of an Ethics Investigations 

24 Counsel who shall adopt rules providing for the enforce25 ment of the code of conduct, including a process to receive 


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1 from the public information about potential violations of 

2 the code of conduct by justices of the Supreme Court. 

3 (b) TERM.—The Ethics Investigation Counsel shall 

4 serve a term of 4 years. 

5 (c) REMOVAL.—The Ethics Investigation Counsel 

6 may be removed for cause by the Supreme Court of the 

7 United States. 

8 (d) PROCESS.—The process shall include the estab9 lishment of a method for the submission of the informa10 tion described in subsection (a) in electronic form. 

11 (e) INVESTIGATIONS.—The Ethics Investigations 

12 Counsel appointed under this section shall conduct inves13 tigations into potential violations of the code of conduct 

14 described in section 964 of title 28, United States Code, 

15 as added by section 2(a) of this Act, and other conduct 

16 prejudicial to the ethical, effective, and expeditious admin17 istration of the business of the Supreme Court of the 

18 United States. 

19 (f) ASSISTANTS.—The Ethics Investigations Counsel 

20 appointed under this section may, with the approval of the 

21 Chief Justice of the United States, appoint necessary as22 sistants and fix their compensation. 

23 (g) REPORT.—The Ethics Investigations Counsel ap24 pointed under this section shall issue an annual public re25 port describing the complaints described in subsection (a) 


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1 and any steps taken to investigate, resolve, or rehabilitate 

2 the conduct detailed in the complaint. 

3 SEC. 4. RECUSAL OF JUSTICES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which a justice of 

5 the Supreme Court of the United States disqualifies him6 self or herself in a proceeding under section 455 of title 

7 28, United States Code, the justice shall disclose in the 

8 public record of the proceeding the reasons for the dis9 qualification. 

10 (b) DENIAL OF MOTION TO DISQUALIFY.—If a jus11 tice of the Supreme Court of the United States denies a 

12 motion brought by a party to a proceeding before the 

13 Court that the justice should be disqualified in the pro14 ceeding under section 455 of title 28, United States Code, 

15 the justice shall disclose in the public record of the pro16 ceeding the reasons for the denial of the motion. 

Æ 


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