Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett said Monday she wants the Supreme Court to adopt a formal code of conduct after a series of stunning reports about her colleagues accepting lavish gifts.
But the court’s newest member said she couldn’t guess when one would be posted.
The Donald Trump-nominated judge said the nine justices agree that they “hold ourselves to the highest standards.”
The Indiana native spoke at a University of Minnesota Law School event following an extraordinary term that ended last summer that yielded stunning reports on the gifts and luxury trips accepted by fellow judge Clarence Thomas.
It included repeated vacations with billionaire Harlan Crow, a Republican donor, including cruises on Crow’s luxury yacht and multiple trips to Crow’s private resort in upstate New York. ProPublica identified 38 vacations and 26 private jet flights that Thomas accepted, along with helicopter flights, resort stays and other benefits.
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett says she supports a formal code of conduct for the court, following a term that included reports of judges accepting lavish gifts
‘I think it would be a good idea for us to do it, especially so that we can communicate to the public exactly what we are doing – and in a clearer way than perhaps we have been able to do so far. Barrett said. “I will say this: There is no lack of consensus among the justices – there is unanimity among all nine justices – that we must, and do, hold ourselves to the highest standards of ethics.”
Crow and Thomas have cited their friendship as the reason most of the trips and stays were not made public.
ProPublica also reported that Justice Antonin Scalia accepted a fishing trip from hedge financier Paul Singer in 2008, a trip with costs that could have reached $100,000.
Coney Barrett spoke just two weeks after the Supreme Court opened its current term in October with new cases on guns and abortion and the power of regulators on its role, but with ethical concerns top of mind for many observers. Ethical issues have hounded some justices — including conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito and liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Harlan Crow, chairman and CEO of Crow Holdings LLC, hosted Judge Thomas for vacations during his private outings
A photo of the boathouse at Camp Topridge, the private Adirondacks resort owned by billionaire Harlan Crow. Camp Topridge is by invitation only and has some unusual features, including a replica of Hagrid from Harry Potter’s hut. Thomas announced he was staying there based on his updated disclosure
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (left) disclosed that Republican billionaire Harlan Crow (right) paid for a trio of his private flights in financial disclosure forms released Thursday. Crow also purchased a house that Thomas partially owned with the intention of turning it into a museum. Thomas’ mother lives there
Clarence Thomas’ mother, Supreme Court Justice Leola Williams, received a “life estate” from billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow, who bought her home and is living rent-free, according to Thomas’ attorney
Barrett went further than she did in August when she told a judicial conference in Wisconsin that she welcomed public scrutiny of the Supreme Court, but did not comment on whether she thinks the Court should change the way it works in light of the growing ethical concerns. She did not express any opinion or directly address the calls for the justices to adopt them an official code of conduct.
In her remarks Monday, Barrett said what she has in mind for a code is “how we can best express what we already do.” She said the judges already comply with the statutes that apply to all judges by filing financial disclosure forms. She said she still personally follows the formal rules of conduct that applied to her when she was an appellate judge — which do not apply to the Supreme Court — and that her fellow judges do the same.
But when her host, former law school dean Robert Stein, asked how long it would take for the Supreme Court to reach consensus on what its own code of ethics should be, Barrett demurred.
“I think this is something that I can’t really speak to in court or even guess anything about,” she said.
Barrett spoke as part of a lecture series named after Stein, who also brought Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Chief Justice John Roberts to the university. But security in and around the chamber was considerably tighter than at the other justices, following calls from activist groups to protest Barrett’s actions.
Several protesters stood up early during Barrett’s remarks and chanted slogans including: “Not the court. Not the state. People must decide their fate.’ Police escorted them out after a few minutes and police said there were no arrests.
More than 200 people protested peacefully outside the venue. Freshman Sean Colfer, 18, said the university continues to “push these ideas of diversity, equity and inclusion,” but that Barrett does not represent those principles.
Several protesters waved bright yellow signs that read “Amy Coney Barrett Off Our Campus.”
The The Supreme Court has been tipped further to the right by the three justices named by former President Donald Trump, including Barrett. Public trust at the institution fell to a 50-year low after a series of polarizing rulings, including last year’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and federal abortion protections.
The Associated Press reported this this summer that it has obtained thousands of pages of documents showing how judges who span the court’s ideological divide have lent the prestige of their positions to partisan political activities — by headlining events with prominent politicians — or to advance their own personal interests promote, such as promoting sales of books, through university visits. And reporting from ProPublica earlier this year it emerged that Thomas took part in lavish vacations and a real estate deal with a top Republican donor.
But judges have moved cautiously in their public comments. Kagan expressed her support for an ethics code for the Supreme Court during a meeting conference in Oregon in August. But she said there was no consensus among the justices on how to proceed.
Alito said inside an interview with the Wall Street Journal in July, after Democrats pushed Supreme Court ethics legislation through a Senate committee, that Congress does not have the constitutional authority to impose a code of ethics on the Supreme Court. And Judge Brett Kavanaugh largely avoided talking about ethics during an appearance at a judicial conference in Minnesota in July.