Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / J. Scott Applewhite / AP
The United States Supreme Court finally adopted a code of ethics which removes their embarrassing prior distinction of being the only judges in the country that have no ethics code.
But the toothless code that they have produced—a 15-page document with four pages of obtuse commentary and one entire page devoted just to the justices’ signatures—is too little, too late.
For starters, it’s toothless because it lacks any enforcement mechanism. As Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse put it: “This is a long-overdue step by the justices, but a code of ethics is not binding unless there is a mechanism to investigate possible violations and enforce the rules. The honor system has not worked for members of the Roberts Court.”