The
repeated conflict-of-interest cases where justices Scalia and Thomas do
not recuse themselves have led to congressional action on their lack of
ethics.
Two conservative justices on the Supreme Court have raised questions
about laws regarding ethics and conflicts-of-interest when it comes to
the cases that the SCOTUS reviews. Unlike all other federal judges,
Supreme Court justices are not responsible for following the Code of Conduct
for United States judges. Instead, they are given broad latitude and
authority to recuse themselves from cases if they feel that is the right
thing to do. Unfortunately, in the cases of Justices Antonin Scalia and
Clarence Thomas, they have failed to do so, and have faced heat from
concerned citizens multiple times for alleged conflicts of interest.
With respect to past events, a group of Democrats plan to bring forward
legislation to force Supreme Court to adhere to a system of ethics.
Right now, there is no process for citizens to complain or make a
complaint about the ethical performance of judges on the Supreme Court:
Such calls for Thomas to recuse from cases hit a fevered pitch when the Affordable Care Act was before the high court and Ginni [his wife] was actively lobbying against it. As it turned out, there’s no mechanism for concerned citizens to complain about a Supreme Court justice, or even a clear set of rules that the justices must follow in making recusal decisions. (Source)
