The Supreme Court’s Specious Code of Conduct
46 Cardozo L. Rev. 1855 (2025)
Hofstra Univ. Legal Studies Research Paper
49 Pages Posted: 9 Jul 2025
Hofstra University, Maurice A. Deane School of Law
Date Written: July 08, 2025
Abstract
Congressionally-imposed ethics enforcement would enhance the Supreme Court’s exercise of constitutional powers by reducing the interference of improper personal motives during its factual and legal determinations. The Court has long recognized the self-evident truth that “no man can be a judge in his own case.” The Framers recognized the limits inherent in human nature: humans are not angels. Accordingly, the Constitutional scheme of separated powers, as elucidated by Madison,“[does] not mean that these departments ought to have no partial agency in, or no control over, the acts of each other.” Congress rightly has the constitutional means and motive to promote due process by bolstering impartiality and the appearance thereof. It can do so while also strengthening the Court’s proper constitutional role. Congress can and should enact an ethics enforcement mechanism that brings the Justices within a system that checks their individual interests. The Supreme Court’s ersatz Code, in its present form, is manifestly insufficient. With permissive language and no meaningful enforcement mechanism, the Code serves only as a clever loophole, designed to suppress public scrutiny of the Court, without enacting real change.
JEL Classification: K42, K41
Suggested Citation:
Sample, James J., The Supreme Court’s Specious Code of Conduct (July 08, 2025). 46 Cardozo L. Rev. 1855 (2025), Hofstra Univ. Legal Studies Research Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5344063 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5344063
