Public confidence in the Supreme Court is at a 50-year-low, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh says change is on the way. When asked about "perceived ethical issues" at a judicial conference Thursday, Kavanaugh said the court is "continuing to work on those issues," as Chief Justice John Robert said in May, and he is "hopeful that there will be some concrete steps taken soon on that," the Washington Post reports. Confidence in the court has been hit hard by divisive rulings including the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year, as well as ethical issues including undisclosed trips by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito that were paid for by conservative donors, reports the AP.
Liberal members of the court including Justice Sonia Sotomayor have also faced ethical questions. "There's a storm around us in the political world and the world at large in America," Kavanaugh said. "We, as judges and the legal system, need to try to be a little more, I think, of the calm in the storm." He described the justices as "nine public servants that are hard-working and care a lot about the court and care a lot about the judiciary as a whole" and said they "want that respect for the institution to be shared by the American people, recognizing that people are going to disagree with our decisions," per the Post.
Some lawmakers have been pushing for the court to adopt a binding code of conduct and the Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced legislation that introduces such a code and tightens disclosure rules, though it is unlikely to overcome Republican opposition, the Hill reports. But "getting a bit of pushback from elected officials is all to the good," Dan Epps, a law professor at Washington University in St Louis, tells the Economist. He says it reminds the justices that "they're not above the law and that they still work for us." (More US Supreme Court stories.)
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