SCOTUS: Courting good behavior

By BRUCE LOWITT

Supreme Court justices, responding to complaints and controversies about their ethics and behavior, adopted a broad code of conduct that includes “no running in the hallway”, “keep your hands to yourself” and “share with others.”

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the absence of a code of conduct in the past “has given the mistaken impression that, unlike the nation’s other judges, we have regarded ourselves as unwilling to, for example, speak without first raising our hand, keep our workspaces tidy and stay in our seat. To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this code.”

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas said he grudgingly agreed to the code although he disagreed with including “be kind” and “have a good attitude,” saying they go against his principles. And fellow Associate Justice Samuel Alito relented after initially refusing to include “be respectful” and “be honest” because, he said, no one would believe him even if he pretended to act that way.

A broad swath of lower-court judges, legal experts and kindergarten teachers criticized the 14-page document for not including specific remedies for complaints that a justice has violated the code by, say, talking out of turn, not always doing his or her best or not bringing enough cookies for everyone to have one.

“I’ve seen both Mr. Thomas and Ms. (Elena) Kagan behave in ways that I would never tolerate,” said Lynetta McGuire, a kindergarten teacher at Wendell Phillips Elementary School in Kansas City, Missouri. “Obviously the honor system doesn’t work and this code won’t work unless it can be enforced in any way short of a spanking.”

Roberts said the court decided to limit the code to “dealing with legitimate, serious issues” rather than what he called “fanciful complaints about tax fraud and conflicts of interest and vacations and yachts and jet travel and such. Until we can find verifiable examples of such violations, I believe it best to concentrate on behavior to which we can adhere.”s