Senate Panel Advances Supreme Court Ethics Bill on Party Lines

The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would require the Supreme Court justices to adopt a binding code of ethics, including stronger recusal requirements and transparency guidelines. The legislation, sponsored by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, faces an uphill battle in the narrowly divided Senate, where Republicans have vowed to block it. Democrats argue that the bill is necessary to bring the Supreme Court's ethics requirements in line with other branches of government, while Republicans claim it is partisan and threatens judicial independence. Despite recent revelations of ethical misconduct among justices, the court has been slow to adopt its own enforceable code of ethics.