Presentation: “The U.S. Supreme Court’s Code of Conduct” by Hugh Spitzer, Professor of Law, University of Washington

                              This presentation will cover:

During the past few years, there have been assertions that U.S. Supreme Court justices have engaged in unethical behavior. But in contrast with other federal judges, the justices are not subject to a specific code of conduct. Reacting to the increasing criticism, on November 13, 2023, the Supreme Court issued a Code of Conduct in order to “gather in one place the ethics rules and principles that guide the conduct of the Members of the Court.”  The unsigned statement from the Court observed that its new Code of Conduct was not new at all, but rather reflected the existing code of conduct for federal judges and related ethics opinions. But in contrast with the system for evaluating other federal judges’ behavior, the new Supreme Court Code of Conduct has no effective enforcement mechanism.  In his presentation, Professor Spitzer will outline the Supreme 2023 Court Code of Conduct, compare it with similar judicial conduct codes nationwide, and describe how enforcement (or non-enforcement) of the new Code is supposed to work.