A pair of senators announced bipartisan legislation Wednesday to require the Supreme Court to adopt an ethics code within a year, in the wake of reports that Justice Clarence Thomas did not disclose luxury trips or a real estate transaction with a billionaire GOP donor.
The bill from Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, is the first bipartisan measure on the issue introduced in either chamber since ProPublica reports earlier this month spotlighted the relationship between Thomas and Harlan Crow.
The measure also would require the Supreme Court to designate an official to handle ethics complaints and publish any steps taken in response, as well as allow the marshal of the Supreme Court to contract with federal agencies to conduct ethics investigations.
