Judicial Ethics

That's concerning to Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of Common Cause California, an advocacy group that focuses on fair elections and representation: "Our judges are supposed to be above the fray of politics and totally unbiased in their decision-making," he wrote in an email. "Whether or not that's actually true, it certainly does not help public perception of the judiciary to force our judges to raise special interest dollars, make campaign promises, and so forth." He added that even very engaged voters struggle to find information on these contests.

Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog group, revealed that Thomas didn’t report that source of income on his financial disclosures, despite a legal requirement to do so. The New York Times also raised the possibility that Thomas may have flown on Crow’s jet at least three times. If Thomas had, in fact, taken those flights and Crow footed the bill, the justice failed to disclose that, too. The conference told the lawmakers and Common Cause that the Financial Disclosure Committee would look into both issues. Early in 2012, the committee held a meeting. Some of the judges in attendance expected a serious conversation about how to handle the matter. If there is “reasonable cause” to believe a judge might have intentionally falsified a disclosure or omitted information, the conference, through the Financial Disclosure Committee, is supposed to refer the case to the attorney general. Instead, the committee’s chair, a Kentucky district judge and President Bill Clinton appointee named Joseph H. McKinley Jr., said immediately that he had decided to end the inquiry, explaining that Thomas already amended his filings to include Ginni’s source of income, according to one of the judges in the room.

Top Grassroots Lobbyists Aaron Scherb, Common Cause

The landscape, meanwhile, is dramatically different in Democrat-controlled states. In Maryland, advocates have experienced virtually no resistance whatsoever, and say they are aware of no organized opposition. “We’re expecting a disinformation campaign,” says Joanne Antoine, executive director of Common Cause Maryland. “But outside of that we’re not hearing anything at all.”

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to subpoena a wealthy donor and a high-profile legal power player at the center of recent United States Supreme Court ethics scandals. The vote came after the High Court proposed its own weak and unenforceable code of conduct earlier this month amid growing criticism.

This afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would adopt a code of ethics. The move follows a series of scandals involving Supreme Court Justices that came to light in recent months. The announcement also comes at a time when the Senate Judiciary Committee has already moved forward legislation to establish an ethics code for the Supreme Court and is scheduled to vote this week on subpoenas for witnesses at the heart of some of the recent scandals.