After attending both the House and Senate (at right) Appropriations Subcommittee hearings during which Justices Kagan and Barrett testified, Fix the Court’s Gabe Roth released this statement:

“On substance, it’s heartening to hear that Justice Kagan still supports an enforceable ethics regime at the high court, where Chief Justice Roberts would appoint a panel of senior or retired judges to review complaints against the justices and, if warranted, recommend corrective actions.

“What’s disheartening is that the Court has not moved to implement this idea in the two years since Kagan first mentioned it.

“It may be ‘difficult,’ as Justice Barrett said today, to devise an enforcement scheme that fits within constitutional bounds. But it’s not impossible. After all, the justices issued a lengthy ethics code mere months after the Justice Thomas gifts scandal broke in 2023.

“The Court’s decision to separate itself from the other two branches and demur on the enforceable ethics question is yet another example (see also: lavish gift acceptance, a lack of cameras, a lack of contracting transparency and more) of where the institution is exceptional but for all the wrong reasons.”

“Finally, today should not have been such a rare event. The Supreme Court receives money appropriated by Congress each year, so the justices should appear before lawmakers and the American public annually to defend their budget request.

“It’s unacceptable that it’s taken seven years to get them back to Capitol Hill.”