Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee offered U.S. Supreme Court justices an opportunity to salvage their standing with the American people on Wednesday, by approving a bill that would require a court ethics code.

The vote was 11-10, with all Republican members in opposition. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham characterized the call for ethical standards as retaliation against the court’s conservative majority for decisions regarding abortion access, affirmative action, voting rights and more.

That is poppycock. Standards would apply to every justice now and in the future, regardless of the court’s balance of power.

Justices themselves, rather than Democratic senators, have brought the issue into focus. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have failed to disclose luxury travel at the expense of people with matters before the court. But all of the justices, at various times, have had entanglements outside the court that are very much the business of the American people.

The proposal would require the justices to establish ethics and disclosure rules at least as stringent as those that apply to the House and Senate. It would create a process for citizens to file ethics complaints against justices, and would establish a panel comprising chief judges of appellate and district courts to consider the complaints. And it would require disclosure of underlying funding for parties who file “friend of the court” briefs.

Graham claimed the Democrats are “trying to destroy” the court, but given the court’s low public standing, the ethical standards would help save it.

— Tribune News Service