A growing consensus on ethics reform

Court-watchers have been growing more and more concerned over the increasing politicization of the Supreme Court, as exemplified by recent accounts of overtly partisan activities.

Leading the call for reform was a group of 135 law professors from all across the country. They sent an open letter to leaders in the US House and Senate. And two weeks ago, Alliance for Justice joined Congressman Chris Murphy to announce legislation that would bolster the Supreme Court's recusal process and make the nine justices subject to the same mandatory code of conduct that applies to every other federal judge. Since then, others have added their voices in blogs, petitions, letters to their representatives, and the pages of local newspapers.

Here are some of the must-read stories on ethics reform in just the last two weeks:

The Washington Post
An ethics code for the high court

New York Times
The Court's Recusal Problem

The Hill's Pundit Blog
Supreme Court Ethics

National Law Journal
Ethical oversight for the justices

Toledo Blade
Roberts Rules

You can read more on judicial ethics, including the law professors' letter and more media coverage in the new Alliance for Justice ethics resource center.