Judicial Ethics

“It’s a radical departure…a 180-degree change in how we have considered our system of government and the role of courts,” said Hilary Harris Klein, senior counsel for voting rights for a coalition of Southern-based groups, including Common Cause.

The Supreme Court cannot be its own referee. Justices have tried and failed repeatedly at that. We should expect all public officials to abide by high ethical standards when conducting the people’s business -- with no exceptions.

"I think it's the worst decision the North Carolina Supreme Court perhaps has ever made," Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina, told reporters.

One of the voting rights groups that brought the original challenge to the GOP-drawn map said Friday’s ruling was “one of the gravest assaults on democracy ever in North Carolina.” “Now, extreme partisan gerrymandering has been legalized and it will be weaponized against voters. That’s wrong,” said Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina. “Undoubtedly, the justices who wrote this shameful decision know it’s wrong, as do the self-serving legislators who embrace gerrymandering.”

Back in 2011, he updated years of his financial disclosure reports to include employment details for his wife, conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas. The updates came after the watchdog group Common Cause raised red flags. Thomas said the employment information was “inadvertently omitted due to a misunderstanding of the filing instructions.” Despite Thomas having acknowledged the error and amended his filings, Common Cause wasn’t impressed and suggested it didn’t add up. “Justice Thomas sits on the highest court of the land, is called upon daily to understand and interpret the most complicated legal issues of our day and makes decisions that affect millions,” Common Cause President Bob Edgar said at the time. “It is hard to see how he could have misunderstood the simple directions of a federal disclosure form.”

Common Cause sent a letter Tuesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee asking them have Thomas testify and “put it on the record for the American people,” as well as have Roberts testify. “The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly proven itself incapable of policing itself without a code of ethics,” Common Cause co-president Marilyn Carpinteyro said in a news release. “It is time for Congress to hold hearings and pass legislation to establish a code of ethics for Supreme Court Justices to hold them to the same standards as every other federal judge in the nation.”