I don’t actually think these Justices care about this. Why should they? They have lifetime appointments and there is clearly no appetite for doing anything to change that so they can do whatever they want. In our culture today, the values of honesty, integrity and higher principles are for losers. And these guys aren’t losers. They do what they want:
More than two dozen legal ethics scholars asked Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Thursday to impose a code of conduct for the court’s judges, as the conservative-leaning court faces declining public trust and Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas spark new ethics concerns.
A code of conduct would help the Supreme Court “transparently address potential conflicts and other issues in a way that builds public trust in the institution,” the 25 scholars wrote in their letter to Roberts, which was released through activist group Fix the Court.
The scholars said their request wasn’t in response to any particular concern, and they “do not question the integrity of any justice,” but it comes amid concern about ethical conflicts.
Gorsuch will speak Friday evening at a conference in Walt Disney World for the conservative Federalist Society, drawing criticism because of the event’s overt political nature—other speakers include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Vice President Mike Pence and Trump White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany—and because it’s closed to the press.
Thomas’ wife, conservative lobbyist Ginni Thomas, sits on the board of a group that will soon appear before the Supreme Court to argue it should abolish universities’ affirmative action policies, sparking calls for the justice to recuse himself from the case.
New emails published Friday by watchdog group American Oversight also raised concern, as Ginni Thomas told DeSantis’ office her husband “has been in contact with [DeSantis] too on various things of late”—after Florida was one of the states behind a lawsuit the Supreme Court heard on the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandates.
It’s not that we haven’t always known that the Court was a political institution. But this kind of blatant political activity in a time of intense polarization would have made the Court leery of losing the respect of half the public, which would result in a loss of legitimacy. This group has realized they don’t need legitimacy. They have power either way.