Justices on Tape

Alito, Roberts and Questions About Journalistic Ethics

The United States Supreme Court is perhaps the most secretive and unaccountable public body in the nation. Its members hold themselves outside of established ethical norms and hold their positions for life.

While lower federal courts are held to a long-standing Code of Conduct, which is enforceable under a 1980 statute, members of the High Court are not. The code, for them, is considered advisory — which, according to the Alliance for Justice, “is not enough.” This “voluntary system” leads to “misconduct” and “has left our judiciary and democracy in deep crisis,” AFJ wrote in a 2022 report calling for ethics reform.

Essentially, under the current system, the nine justices on the Supreme Court are exempt from the financial and ideological guard rails imposed on the lower courts, a reality that has contributed to recent scandals involving Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.