II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 956 

To require adequate reporting of ethics, personal finance, and disclosure 

reports for justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 24, 2021 

Mr. KENNEDY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require adequate reporting of ethics, personal finance, 

and disclosure reports for justices of the Supreme Court 

of the United States. 

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 Trans5 parency Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS RELATING TO JUSTICES 

7 OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED 

8 STATES. 

9 (a) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF ETHICS, PERSONAL

10 FINANCE, AND DISCLOSURE FORMS FOR THE CHIEF JUSVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:00 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S956.IS S956

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1 TICE AND ASSOCIATE JUSTICES OF THE UNITED

2 STATES.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

4 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrative 

5 Office of the United States Courts shall establish a 

6 searchable internet database system on an official 

7 website of the United States Government, to enable 

8 public access to any ethics, personal finance, or dis9 closure report required to be made under Federal 

10 law by the Chief Justice or an associate justice of 

11 the Supreme Court, including any amendment or up12 date to such a report. 

13 (2) AVAILABILITY.—Any report described in 

14 paragraph (1), including any amendment or update 

15 to such a report, shall be made publically available 

16 on the database established under paragraph (1) not 

17 later than 30 days after the date on which the re18 port is filed. 

19 (3) LIMITATION ON REDACTION.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—Any document made 

21 public in the database established under para22 graph (1) may be redacted only— 

23 (i) to the extent necessary to protect 

24 the individual who filed the report or a 

25 family member of that individual; and 


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1 (ii) during the period during which 

2 the danger to such individual or a family 

3 member exists. 

4 (B) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year 

5 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Ju6 dicial Conference of the United States, in con7 sultation with the Department of Justice, shall 

8 promulgate regulations setting forth the cir9 cumstances under which redaction is appro10 priate under this subsection and the procedures 

11 for redaction. 

12 (b) PERIODIC TRANSACTION REPORTS.—Section 

13 103(l) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. 

14 App.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(11) The Chief Justice of the United States 

16 and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court.’’. 

17 (c) SEVERABILITY CLAUSE.—If any provision of this 

18 section or an amendment made by this section, or the ap19 plication of such a provision or amendment to any person 

20 or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the re21 maining provisions of this section and amendments made 

22 by this section, and the application of such provisions and 

23 amendments to any other person or circumstance, shall 

24 not be affected thereby. 

Æ 


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