U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has blasted the new ethics code the Supreme Court announced last month, saying it fails to address a “glaring omission.” The code, which was released in February, prohibits justices, clerks, and staff from engaging in political activities and from accepting gifts, travel, or honoraria. However, Schumer pointed out that the rules do not address the Court’s decision-making process, including recusals.
He said in a statement: “The Supreme Court’s ethics code fails to include any rules to ensure justices recuse themselves from cases where their impartiality could be questioned—a glaring omission that invites special interests to seek favor from the highest court in the land.”
The Supreme Court’s announcement of the new code came around the same time as Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s ethics reassignment after he was accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford. Schumer criticized the timing of the announcement, which some have interpreted as an attempt to deflect criticism of Kavanaugh.
The new code is the first update of the Supreme Court’s rules on ethics in decades. Schumer criticized the code’s lack of language regarding recusal, saying it only serves to harm the public’s trust in the highest court in the land. He called for a set of rules that would require judges to be removed if their impartiality in a case is called into question.
