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Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated in an interview Sunday that she supports a binding code of ethics for the Supreme Court, adding that such requirements are “pretty standard” for the federal judiciary.
“From my perspective, I don’t have any problem with an enforceable code,” Jackson, the newest member of the high court, told “CBS News Sunday Morning” in an interview about her new memoir.
“A binding code of ethics is pretty standard for judges. And so I guess the question is, ‘Is the Supreme Court any different?’” Jackson said. “And I guess I have not seen a persuasive reason as to why the court is different than the other courts.”
Asked whether she was considering supporting the idea, Jackson said she was “as a general matter.”
Jackson is the latest justice to indicate an openness to an enforceable code of ethics at a time when the Supreme Court is facing heavy scrutiny — and near record low approval ratings — because of private jet flights and luxury travel accepted by some members of the court. President Joe Biden called for an enforceable code of conduct in late July.
Jackson, Biden’s first and only nominee to the Supreme Court, declined to endorse any particular ethics policy. She also declined to discuss Justice Clarence Thomas, who has been at the center of the court’s ethics controversies. Thomas initially failed to disclose trips and other gifts from GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, though the conservative justice has said he was following the court’s disclosure rules as he understood them at the time.
The high court adopted its own code of conduct last year. But the measure, while historic, was heavily criticized by ethics experts because it included no way to enforce its requirements. Justice Elena Kagan, a member of the court’s liberal wing, defended the code of conduct this summer but also conceded it would be more effective if it included an enforcement mechanism.
Jackson’s interview comes as she is promoting a new memoir, “Lovely One,” to be published Tuesday. She will also be speaking at events in New York, Washington and Atlanta this week.
Critics of a binding code of ethics have pointed to concerns about how to enforce rules against members of a tribunal who are supposed to be the final word on the law. Some proposals, including one advanced by Senate Democrats, would create a panel of lower court judges to review ethics matters.
“It really boils down to impartiality,” Jackson told CBS. “That’s what the rules are about. People are entitled to know if you’re accepting gifts as a judge, so that they can evaluate whether or not your opinions are impartial.”
