The Supreme Court is devoted to upholding the “highest requirements for conduct,” Chief Justice John Roberts declared on Tuesday night, appearing to target the court’s detractors in light of recent ethical scandals with his statements.
John Roberts made no particular comments during his speech at a law dinner on Tuesday, but he did state that the justices “are continuing to examine the things we can do to give tangible consequences to that commitment.” John Roberts was presented with an award at the event. Roberts has questioned whether Congress could order the court to abide by an ethics code when the court has avoided creating its own.
Chief Justice John Roberts Addresses The Public
Roberts recently sent the Senate Judiciary Committee a statement of ethics that all nine justices had signed. His comments on Tuesday gave the impression that he is aware that the statement won’t satisfy critics.
The top justice’s comments come in the wake of many articles, mostly published by the investigative news website ProPublica, that exposed extravagant flights and other gifts that Republican megadonor Harlan Crow gave to Justice Clarence Thomas.
Thomas has been defended by Republicans. Roberts, who has presided over the court since 2005, added that the hardest choice he has had to make in that capacity was to forbid demonstrators from entering the building last year after a draft judgment overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked.
The choice of whether to put fences and barricades surrounding the Supreme Court was the most difficult one I had to make in 18 years. He stated at a feast for the American Law Institute in Washington, “I had no choice but to go forward and do it.
