Dismissal of Kavanaugh Complaint Shows Need for Ethics Reform

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 18, 2018 – Following today’s announcement that a federal court in Denver has dismissed ethics complaints against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, AFJ President Nan Aron released the following statement:

“The dismissal of a staggering 83 ethics complaints against Brett Kavanaugh, solely on the grounds that he is now a Supreme Court justice and is no longer subject to the code of ethics that governs the behavior of other federal judges, makes it crystal clear that we need a code of ethics for Supreme Court justices. In addition to the deeply troubling allegations of sexual assault raised elsewhere, these were serious complaints alleging untruthful statements by Kavanaugh on several occasions, as well as improper conduct during his confirmation hearing this year — which was abundantly obvious to anyone who watched it. An ethics system that essentially allows Supreme Court justices to pull rank and get away with egregious behavior is no ethics system at all. It’s time to extend the rules so they cover our highest-ranking judges, who ought to be held to the highest ethical standards — not the lowest.”