King County bar helps lead call for US Supreme Court to adopt ethics rules
U.S. Supreme Court justices are the only judges in the country who are not subject to a formal code of ethics. A resolution crafted by the King County Bar Association to change that was approved Feb. 7 by American Bar Association members at the group’s midyear convention in New Orleans.
It’s believed to be the first time the legal profession demanded the U.S. Supreme Court be bound to a comprehensive ethics code, comparable to what lower court judges must comply with.
“This resolution is about protecting the Supreme Court. It is about bolstering the court’s reputation and its credibility with the American people,” said Perkins Coie Seattle managing partner James Williams, who introduced the measure to the ABA's House of Delegates.
The resolution’s passage enables ABA leaders to speak publicly about the need for a binding code of ethics, said Kathleen Hopkins, KCBA delegate to the American Bar Association. “It was horrible that we were sitting on the sidelines,” she said, in reference to what she called “almost daily news reports” of some justices’ ethically questionable behavior.
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2023/02/16/king-county-bar-association-ethics-code-resolution.html
Good but we still have a way to go. I'm waiting for anyone on the court who will acknowledge there's a problem.