Chris Geidner: The “highest court in the land” has set the bar for ethics incredibly low. But there is something America can do about it.
While some propose a mandatory code of conduct for Supreme Court justices, that wouldn’t be a solution — even if it were enforceable. If Congress passed such a code, Chief Justice Roberts hasthat such enactments might be unconstitutional violations of separation of powers. In any event, Roberts says that the justices already “consult” the Code of Conduct that applies to lower court judges, as well as the federal recusal statute, so it’s not quite clear that those are really solutions at all.
It is not an infallible institution whose decisions should be accepted without question. It is not a debating club that is just trying its best to figure out what the law is. And, most importantly, it is not a body that should be placed beyond public scrutiny. The justices are ordinary people, running an imperfect governmental body, with an assigned role in our democracy. Treating them as such — and not something more — is essential to maintaining our democracy.
The justices and court officials should be transparent about their actions whenever possible. Reporters should cover them like any other part of government — skeptically and with a focus on what’s happening in the background and the reasons for decisions, not just by providing information about the words that the justices hand down to establish the national legal rules on any number of issues.
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