Given that it was Justice Kagan who talked about the need for a SCOTUS ethics code well before her peers, her vision on the topic should not be dismissed.
In the last two decades, the justices have accepted 344 gifts valued at $3 million. Counting "likely gifts" (not yet confirmed), the number jumps to 445 gifts totaling $4.8 million.
The current disciplinary rubric at the high Court — effectively "impeachment or nothing" — is asinine. There has to be a middle ground.