The Supreme Court announced today that it is considering a new rule requiring high court petitioners to list all cases related to their case in order to help the justices “determine whether their participation in a [prior version of the] case might necessitate recusal.”

This is a major victory for Fix the Court, which has for years tried to convince the justices that they should do more to suss out potential conflicts, since missed conflicts only serve to reduce the public’s trust in their integrity.

Since FTC was established four years ago, the justices have missed statutory recusals – typically based on previous, albeit forgotten, work or out-of-mind stock conflicts – half a dozen times (see “Recent Times in Which a Justice Failed to Recuse Despite a Conflict of Interest“).

There is legislation pending in Congress that would require the justices to publicly list their reasons for recusal, which we also believe would assist them in making non-recusal errors and bolster institutional integrity.

Fix the Court hopes both the law and the proposed rule are soon codified.

Also of note on the topic: it looks as though Justice Alito sold his Merck stock last week, as he is no longer recused in Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. v. Albrecht, which the justices granted cert. in but has yet to be docketed.