Page 20 - Ethics Rules News Today

>> i figured it probably didnt have a lot of teeth, but i figured they probably had set some type of ethics rules and regulatory process in place. >> but george burgess only asked about it. he said he had never spoken with anyone from the white house and he didnt know anything about the ethics package. didnt they claim they had an ethics agreement? yes, they did. >> they said that. but then george burgess didnt know anything about it. and if they had an ethics agreement, they would have had it w...

Being objective. i include justice kavanaugh along with all of the other justices. chief justice roberts has made it a priority -- and im paraphrasing, but to bring back the respect to the supreme court. i do not think that donald trumps goals are going to be achieved by doing what he thinks its helping him. >> this is the problem with donald trump, charles. he expects loyalty from anybody around him, and the fact of the matter is that judges who are known to the constitution, not to the man did...

You are jack smith, you are seeing this. one thing that i want to ask you about, clarence thomas. is there any desire from the doj to see justice thomas recuse himself from these cases being heard? >> charles, clarence thomas has been causing problems since before he got on this court. the fact of the matter is that the ethics issues, the ethics rules before the court are -- they have no teeth. i do not expect youre going to see doj, with so many matters before the court, trying to encourage any...

Appeal that. there is no mechanism to potentially punish him for failing to recuse in a case in which theres a conflict of interest. and so this ethics lipstick on a pig that chief justice roberts tried to push through last fall doesnt get anywhere, because what you would need for any code of ethics is some sort of investigative body and enforcement mechanism, and the code that they released in november, the amalgamation of a variety of different canons of ethics laws that are not equivalent to ...

Act, because they have refused to do so. >> if clarence thomas does not recuse and the court rules in trumps favor in this case, what effect do you think that will have on the legitimacy of this ruling for the american people? >> public poll after public poll, the legitimacy of this supreme court is cratering. the credibility of the court is at an all-time low. thats largely because of all the ethics violations that have been uncovered about justice thomas in particular, justice alito as well, e...

Authority to investigate whether there are any violations of those ethics rules, of those disclosure laws. the supreme court does not have that, and that is why congress must now act because they have refused to do so. >> if clarence thomas does not recuse and the court rules in trumps favor in this case, what affect do you think thatll have on the legitimacy of this ruling for the american people? >> well, as youve seen from public poll after public poll, the legitimacy of this supreme court is...

Conservative government watchdog Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust says the Office of Congressional Ethics is violating its mission of investigating alleged violations.

There's no system to force recusals when there are conflicts of interest.

Critics of the Supreme Court’s ethics standards are viewing the justices’ new code of conduct as a step in the right direction, but they say it leaves much to be desired. Democrats are vowing to still push ahead with their ethics legislation, taking aim alongside judicial watchdog groups at the code’s lack of enforcement mechanisms.…

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday published a new code of ethics following a series of high-profile accounts of several justices accepting travel and other benefits from wealthy backers.