The US Supreme Court doesn’t take orders from anyone.
But in a rare concession to political and public pressure, the high court on Monday announced a first-ever formal code of conduct following a string of ethical controversies swirling around several of the justices.
The justices said that the code is “substantially derived” from an existing code of conduct that applies to lower courts but has been adapted to the “unique institutional setting of the Supreme Court.”
True to form, however, the justices aren’t explaining exactly how the code would work or how it would be enforced or how violations would be punished.
The decision came as the Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee has been seeking to probe the Supreme Court following reports that conservative justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito accepted lavish trips by a prominent Republican donor and a conservative legal campaigner, respectively.
Judiciary Chairman Sen Dick Durbin – a Democrat -- described the Supreme Court’s move as a good first step but warned that it fell short of expectations.
That’s not going to sit well with the court, which balks at even the idea it should come under scrutiny from another branch of government.
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