SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Justice Elena Kagan became the first member on Thursday Supreme Court to appeal to the public for its strengthening new code of ethics by adding a way to apply
In her first public appearance since the nation’s highest court ended her term earlier this month, Kagan said she wouldn’t have signed the new rules if she didn’t believe they were good. But having good rules is not enough, he said.
“What can be criticized is, you know, rules usually have mechanisms to enforce them, and this — this set of rules — doesn’t,” Kagan said at an annual judicial conference hosted by the 9th Circuit. More than 150 judges, lawyers, court employees and others participated.
Figuring out who should enforce the ethics code would be difficult, though it would probably have to be other judges, the liberal justice said, adding that another difficult question is what happens if the rules are broken. Kagan suggested that Chief Justice John Roberts could appoint a committee of distinguished judges to enforce the rules.
There are Democrats, including President Joe Biden A new conversation about Supreme Court reformsincluding possible term limits and a legally enforceable code of ethics.
The court has been considering adopting an ethics code for several years, but the effort gained added urgency after ProPublica reported last year. Justice Clarence Thomas did not comment luxury trips he received from a major Republican donor. ProPublica also reported on an undisclosed trip to Alaska adopted by Justice Samuel Alitoand the Associated Press published stories about both liberal and conservative justices engages in partisan activities.
Earlier this year Alito was criticized again After The New York Times reported that an upside-down American flag, a symbol linked to former President Donald Trump’s false allegations of election fraud, was displayed outside his home. Alito said he had nothing to do with the flag being flown upside down.
In recent years, the public’s confidence in the judiciary has fallen sharply. A survey in June Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center 4 in 10 US adults have almost no confidence in justices, and 70% believe they are more likely to be guided by their own ideologies than to serve as neutral arbiters.
Kagan, who was nominated to the Supreme Court by then-President Barack Obama in 2010, said Thursday that having a way to enforce a code of ethics would also protect justice if accused of misconduct.
“Both in terms of enforcing the rules against people who break them, and in terms of protecting people who don’t – I think a system like this makes sense,” he said.
The Supreme Court has ruled on a number of controversial issues during this time, from homelessness to abortion to presidential immunity. Kagan was in the minority for opposing the decisions to clear the road States should enforce homeless camping bans and former presidents widely immune from criminal prosecution from official acts. Kagan attended along with the court’s eight other justices protecting access to the abortion drug mifepristone.
Kagan has spoken in the past about how the court has lost credibility in the public eye. He said after the court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 judges may lose their legitimacy if they appear to be ‘extensions of the political process’ or if they exercise their own personal preferences.