Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act: New Oversight Offices and Subpoena Powers to Monitor Justices

The Supreme Court is getting a dedicated internal watchdog. This bill establishes two distinct offices—the Office of Ethics Counsel and the Office of Investigative Counsel—designed to move the Court away from a 'self-policing' model toward one with formal rules, mandatory training, and investigative teeth. Under Section 2, the Ethics Counsel will provide specific guidance to justices and their spouses on everything from financial disclosures to when they should recuse themselves from a case. Think of it as a compliance department for the highest court in the land, ensuring that a justice's personal stock portfolio or a spouse's political ties don't create a conflict of interest in a major ruling.

The Rules of the Road

To keep things professional, the bill sets high bars for who actually runs these offices. The Chief Ethics Counsel must be a licensed attorney with at least five years of experience and cannot be a current Court employee at the time of the bill's enactment. They’ll earn at least $225,000 and serve up to two six-year terms. Their job isn't just to answer questions; they are required to run an ethics training course every two years that every justice must attend. They also have to tell Congress how many times advice was sought and, notably, how many times that advice was ignored (Section 2). For a regular person, this is like having a transparent HR department that finally documents whether the bosses are actually following the employee handbook.

Investigative Teeth and Subpoena Power

Section 3 is where the bill gets heavy. It creates an Investigative Counsel with the power to issue subpoenas across the U.S. to force witnesses to talk or hand over documents. If a justice is accused of an ethics violation, this office can dig into the details. However, there’s a catch for the average citizen: you can't just file a complaint yourself. Only high-ranking congressional leaders—like the Speaker of the House or the Senate Majority Leader—can trigger an investigation. This means if you see something fishy, you’ll have to convince your representative to make it an official issue. Once a complaint is filed, the office has 60 days to decide if it’s worth a full investigation.

Accountability and the Fine Print

While the bill adds layers of oversight, it keeps much of the final control within the building. The Chief Justice still appoints the heads of these offices and is the one who receives the final investigative reports. While the Chief Justice can release these reports to the public, they aren't strictly required to do so, though the reports must be shared with relevant Congressional committees within 10 days of completion (Section 3). For the public, this creates a more structured trail of accountability, but it also relies heavily on the Chief Justice to act on the findings and on Congressional leaders to start the process in the first place.