IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 702 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Justices 
of the Supreme Court should make themselves subject to the existing 
and operative ethics guidelines set out in the Code of Conduct for 
United States Judges, or should promulgate their own code of conduct. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 5, 2021 
Ms. NORTON submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the Justices of the Supreme Court should make them-
selves subject to the existing and operative ethics guide-
lines set out in the Code of Conduct for United States 
Judges, or should promulgate their own code of conduct. 
Whereas section 455 of title 28, United States Code, estab-
lishes the circumstances under which any Justice, judge, 
or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify 
himself or herself from a case; 
Whereas under chapter 16 of title 28, United States Code 
(relating to complaints against judges and judicial dis-
cipline), the judicial circuits may prescribe rules and pro-
cedures for the conduct of proceedings under that chap-
ter, including regarding complaint, investigative, and re-
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•HRES 702 IH 
view procedures for certain decisions of judges and mag-
istrate judges of the United States not to recuse them-
selves from cases; 
Whereas litigants can seek legal recourse through the United 
States courts to enforce section 455 of title 28, United 
States Code, and challenge the disposition of the under-
lying case, and complainants have administrative proce-
dures under chapter 16 of title 28, United States Code, 
against a judge or magistrate judge of the United States, 
but there are no comparable enforcement mechanisms 
against the Justices of the United States; 
Whereas the Judicial Conference of the United States adopt-
ed a Code of Conduct for United States Judges, which 
uses language identical to the relevant portion of section 
455 of title 28, United States Code, that a judge or mag-
istrate judge of the United States must abide by when 
deciding whether to recuse himself or herself from a case, 
but the Code does not apply to a Justice of the Supreme 
Court; 
Whereas Justices of the Supreme Court are not bound by any 
written code of conduct; 
Whereas Justices of the Supreme Court each have 
unreviewable authority to determine whether there is an 
appearance of bias, conflict of interest, or other ethical 
justification sufficient for withdrawal from hearing, par-
taking in deliberations in, or joining in the resolution of, 
a case or controversy; 
Whereas the Federal Judicial Center has concluded that ‘‘bal-
ancing the duty to decide’’ with ‘‘the duty to disqualify’’ 
precludes judges from using recusal as an excuse to shirk 
their duties by avoiding difficult or unpleasant cases; 
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•HRES 702 IH 
Whereas the Constitution vests judicial power in one Supreme 
Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may 
from time to time ordain and establish; 
Whereas the separation of powers of the coordinate branches 
of government, as well as the independence of the judici-
ary, or the appearance of independence, may be com-
promised by extensive legislative or executive interference 
into that branch’s functions; 
Whereas James Madison argued in Federalist Paper Number 
10 that ‘‘[n]o man is allowed to be a judge in his own 
cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judg-
ment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity’’; and 
Whereas the Supreme Court has acknowledged in Republican 
Party of Minnesota v. White, and reiterated in Caperton 
v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., that ‘‘[t]he citizen’s respect for 
judgments depends . . . upon the issuing court’s absolute 
probity’’ and that ‘‘[j]udicial integrity is, in consequence, 
a state interest of the highest order’’: Now, therefore, be 
it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that the Justices of the Supreme Court should 
make themselves subject to the existing and operative eth-
ics guidelines set out in the Code of Conduct for United 
States Judges, or should promulgate their own code of 
conduct. 
Æ 
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