Evidence Grows Supreme Court In Urgent Need Of Code Of Ethics 

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 19, 2022 – Reporting this weekend from the New York Times reveals that Justice Samuel Alito allegedly leaked the expected result of his 2014 Hobby Lobby decision to conservative activists weeks before it was actually issued. This decision further codified conservatives’ vision of allowing the religious beliefs of a company’s owners to limit the reproductive health care its employees can receive. At the time, conservative justices were regularly meeting behind closed doors with anti-abortion “stealth missionaries” organized by Rev. Rob Schenck, former head of the nonprofit Faith and Action. 

This news comes less than a week after Justice Clarence Thomas indicated his desire to once again block enforcement of investigations into the January 6 insurrection, investigations that directly implicate his own wife, Ginni Thomas. 

Alliance for Justice President Rakim H.D. Brooks issued the following statement: 

“This Supreme Court’s extremism would be enough reason for the American people to lose faith in the judiciary and the rule of law. But the conservative justices are now doing something far worse by flouting basic standards of propriety and lending credence to our greatest fear: that they are acting in concert with the most extreme elements of the conservative movement to advance an unpopular and un-American political agenda.  

“It will take several major reforms to restore our trust in this broken institution. At a minimum, we are desperately overdue for the Supreme Court to be held accountable by a code of ethics. Clearly their willingness to ‘consult’ such a code is falling far short of ensuring the Court’s integrity. Congress should also immediately launch an investigation into the allegations in today’s article. If the American people cannot trust the independence of its judiciary or its decisions, that threatens the very foundations of our democracy.”