[Pages H1559-H1560]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          SUPREME COURT ETHICS

  (Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, in recent years, some Americans 
suspect that politics has infected our courts, particularly the United 
States Supreme Court. This troubling trend threatens our democracy when 
the independence of our judiciary is questioned.
  Last week, I introduced a bill that requires the Judicial Conference 
of the United States to create a code of ethical conduct for the U.S. 
Supreme Court.
  Unlike Federal judges, Supreme Court Justices are exempt from the 
code of conduct. The Supreme Court Ethics Act changes that.
  Supreme Court Justices should not be exempt from adhering to the 
standards other Federal judges must follow.

[[Page H1560]]

Passage of this necessary ethical reform would restore the public's 
confidence and perception that the judiciary is independent, impartial, 
and apolitical; and it would protect public confidence in the rule of 
law, the inviolability of the judiciary and the incomparable and unique 
role it plays in the delicate system of checks and balances that 
sustains our democracy.

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