Explainer: Supreme Court Reform: Examining Key Issues and Proposals
Public confidence in the Supreme Court is already at a nadir. This crisis of legitimacy, coupled with alarming revelations around judges’ financial conflicts of interest and the risks posed by a laissez-faire approach to ethics, provide ample cause for Congress to examine the above proposals more closely. Both chambers have acted to address financial conflicts by approving the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act. Congress can build on this momentum by considering the legislation discussed in this explainer and investigating justices’ known conflicts of interest. Doing so would not only advance the policies in these bills, but also signal to the public at a pivotal moment that issues plaguing the Court will not go unchecked.