Supreme Court Ethics Act

Subjects: Law, Employee performance, Government ethics and transparency, public corruption, Government information and archives, Government studies and investigations, Judges, Supreme Court

Summary:  <p><b>Supreme Court Ethics Act</b></p> <p>This bill establishes a new statutory requirement for the Judicial Conference of the United States to issue a judicial code of conduct for judges and justices of U.S. courts, including Justices of the Supreme Court. Currently, the Judicial Conference issues a code of conduct for judges of U.S. courts (but not for Justices of the Supreme Court).</p> <p>To enforce the code of conduct for Justices of the Supreme Court, the bill requires the Supreme Court to appoint an ethics investigations counsel. The ethics investigations counsel must</p> <ul type="disc"> <li>adopt rules to enforce the code of conduct, including a process to receive public complaints of potential violations;</li> <li>investigate complaints; and</li> <li>issue an annual public report describing the complaints and the steps taken to address the complaints.</li> </ul> <p>Finally, the bill requires a Justice of the Supreme Court to publicly disclose the reasons for disqualifying himself or herself in a proceeding or the reasons for denying a motion to disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding.</p>

<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 325 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






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. Lujan, 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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Supreme Court Ethics Act''.

SEC. 2. CODE OF CONDUCT.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 57 of title 28, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 964. Code of conduct
    ``Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 
section, the Judicial Conference of the United States shall issue a 
code of conduct, which applies to each justice and judge of the courts 
of the United States, except that the code of conduct may include 
provisions that are applicable only to certain categories of judges or 
justices.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for 
chapter 57 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding after 
the item related to section 963 the following:

``964. Code of conduct.''.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF ETHICS INVESTIGATIONS COUNSEL AND REPORTING 
              PROTOCOL.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date on which the 
Judicial Conference of the United States issues a code of conduct under 
section 964 of title 28, United States Code, as added by section 2(a) 
of this Act, the Supreme Court of the United States shall appoint and 
fix the compensation of an Ethics Investigations Counsel who shall 
adopt rules providing for the enforcement of the code of conduct, 
including a process to receive from the public information about 
potential violations of the code of conduct by justices of the Supreme 
Court.
    (b) Term.--The Ethics Investigation Counsel shall serve a term of 4 
years.
    (c) Removal.--The Ethics Investigation Counsel may be removed for 
cause by the Supreme Court of the United States.
    (d) Process.--The process shall include the establishment of a 
method for the submission of the information described in subsection 
(a) in electronic form.
    (e) Investigations.--The Ethics Investigations Counsel appointed 
under this section shall conduct investigations into potential 
violations of the code of conduct described in section 964 of title 28, 
United States Code, as added by section 2(a) of this Act, and other 
conduct prejudicial to the ethical, effective, and expeditious 
administration of the business of the Supreme Court of the United 
States.
    (f) Assistants.--The Ethics Investigations Counsel appointed under 
this section may, with the approval of the Chief Justice of the United 
States, appoint necessary assistants and fix their compensation.
    (g) Report.--The Ethics Investigations Counsel appointed under this 
section shall issue an annual public report describing the complaints 
described in subsection (a) and any steps taken to investigate, 
resolve, or rehabilitate the conduct detailed in the complaint.

SEC. 4. RECUSAL OF JUSTICES.

    (a) In General.--In any case in which a justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States disqualifies himself or herself in a 
proceeding under section 455 of title 28, United States Code, the 
justice shall disclose in the public record of the proceeding the 
reasons for the disqualification.
    (b) Denial of Motion To Disqualify.--If a justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States denies a motion brought by a party to a 
proceeding before the Court that the justice should be disqualified in 
the proceeding under section 455 of title 28, United States Code, the 
justice shall disclose in the public record of the proceeding the 
reasons for the denial of the motion.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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