No one is above the law, not even Supreme Court Justices. Add your name today to my plan for an ethical and impartial judiciary

The basic premise of our legal system is that every person is treated equally in the eyes of the law — including judges.

But, in the last few years, prominent federal judges have been accused of sexual misconduct, tax fraud, and more — and have been able to avoid the consequences. On top of that, many judges get to decide for themselves whether they face conflicts of interest, regardless of the stocks they own or the all-expenses-paid trips they accept.

That’s why I’m announcing my plan to strengthen the ethical integrity and impartiality of the federal judiciary. It’s time to ensure that judges do not hear cases where they have conflicts of interests, strengthen our nation’s ethics rules for judges, and ensure accountability for judges who violate these rules.

Add your name today if you’re ready to fight for a fair and ethical judiciary — all the way up to the Supreme Court.

Here’s my plan for fundamental reform:

1. Have judges step aside when they may not be able to decide cases objectively.

• Prohibit judges from deciding for themselves whether they should recuse from a case due to a conflict. My plan will instead empower the Chief Judges within regional circuits to establish a binding recusal process.
• Ban judges from owning or trading individual stocks so they’re not ruling in cases where they have a financial stake.
• Require Supreme Court justices to provide written explanations of recusal decisions when someone bringing a case challenges for recusal. Right now, if a Supreme Court justice has a conflict of interest, the law allows them to deny recusal motions without even providing an explanation. Under my plan, the Judicial Conference will issue a public advisory opinion with its recommendation — and the challenged justice will have to publicly explain their decision in writing.

2. Strengthen ethics rules for all judges.

Federal judges are generally subject to a Code of Conduct, but there is no Code of Conduct for Supreme Court justices. We must act now to fix this — and here’s where I would start:

• Extend the Code of Conduct to Supreme Court justices. When Judge Kavanaugh was elevated to the Supreme Court, 83 ethics complaints that had been lodged against him were dismissed. My plan applies the Code of Conduct for United States judges to Supreme Court justices and places the Judicial Conference in charge of violations.
• Strengthen the Code of Conduct to ensure a fair and impartial judiciary. My plan strengthens the Code of Conduct so that judges generally cannot receive paid speaking fees or all-expenses-paid trips from outside organizations.

3. Real enforcement for judicial misconduct.

Right now, the panels of judges that investigate judicial conduct complaints have limited disciplinary power. It’s time for real accountability for judges, and my plan will…

• Continue investigations into judicial misconduct even when a judge resigns from office or is elevated to the Supreme Court. My plan extends the authority of the Judicial Conference to former judges so that individuals under investigation cannot simply resign to avoid accountability. And it would let the judiciary reopen investigations into Brett Kavanaugh and anyone else who’s benefited from this loophole.
• Provide strong disciplinary authority to judicial ethics watchdogs, including the ability to strip non-vested taxpayer-funded pensions from judges.
• Create a new, fast-track impeachment process for federal judges who commit impeachable offenses.

Our legal system loses its legitimacy when the American people don’t believe that judges will be ethical and fair-minded. These reforms will allow us to hold bad actors accountable, and begin to restore accountability and trust in a fair and impartial judiciary.

But we’ll only make this change if our grassroots movement demands it — add your name to say you’re in this fight.

Thanks for being a part of this,

Elizabeth