Expensive gifts: US Supreme Court gets code of conduct
For the first time in the history of the USA, the judges of the Supreme Court have agreed to a code of conduct. This is according to a statement from the Supreme Court. The document describes, among other things, when they must recuse themselves from a case - for example, because of "personal bias" or "financial interest".
It remains unclear who is responsible for enforcing the code of conduct and what penalties apply in the event of non-compliance. In the document, the Chief Justices concede that additional resources may be required for this. This should now be examined.
Ethics debate
Reports of expensive gifts from Texan real estate mogul Harlan Crow to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had previously triggered an ethics debate - with Thomas and his colleagues also coming under scrutiny. While US federal judges, for example, are already subject to a code of conduct, there was no corresponding set of rules for the most powerful court in the US until Monday's announcement.
"For the most part, these rules and principles are not new," the document stated in the introduction. However, the lack of a uniformly defined line had led to the "misunderstanding" that, unlike other jurists in the country, the Supreme Court had not felt constrained by any ethical rules.
Expensive gifts
According to a report by the investigative publication "ProPublica", the conservative major donor Crow had, among other things, given Thomas a trip to Indonesia in 2019, which the arch-conservative judge and his wife Ginni had spent on board Crow's yacht. They had also traveled in his private jet.
The 75-year-old judge then submitted an accountability report and stated that he had been advised not to take scheduled flights for security reasons. The background to this was his opposition to abortion rights and the reaction of violent leftists to this.
On the Supreme Court, whose nine judges are appointed for life and make sociopolitically groundbreaking rulings, Thomas generally represents staunchly conservative positions.
The new code of conduct for the Supreme Court includes guidelines for recusal in instances of "personal bias" or "financial interest," a necessity brought forth by the ethics debate triggered by extravagant gifts from Harlan Crow to Justice Clarence Thomas. The code of conduct, a long-awaited development for the Supreme Court, was initiated to clarify any misunderstandings regarding ethical rules and ensure justice is upheld in Washington.
Source: www.dpa.com
