Congress·In Committee·S. 3914

Sen. Booker Introduces Bill to Create Independent Ethics and Investigative Offices for the Supreme Court

Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act

17 days ago·View on Congress.gov

Legislative Progress

Senate

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Law

Key Points

This bill creates two new offices to oversee the Supreme Court. One office would give justices and their families advice on following ethics rules regarding gifts and money, while the other would investigate complaints about their conduct.
Justices and their spouses would be required to take ethics training every two years. The ethics office would also send a report to Congress each year explaining what kind of advice they gave and if justices actually followed it.
The investigative office would have the power to issue subpoenas, meaning they could legally force people to testify or hand over documents. They would look into complaints filed by top leaders in the House and Senate.
To keep things fair, the people running these offices must be outside experts who have not worked for the Court before. They would serve fixed terms and could only be fired for a very serious reason, not just because a justice is unhappy with them.
If an investigation finds that a justice or their family member broke the rules, a report would be sent to the Chief Justice and Congress. Any evidence of a crime would be sent to the Attorney General to see if charges are necessary.

Criminal JusticeCivil Rights

Impact Analysis

Broader Impacts

DomainScoreShort-termLong-termReversibilityConfidence

Score

Scores: -5 (harmful) to +5 (beneficial)Short-term: 0-2 yearsLong-term: 10-30 years

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Feb 25, 2026Senate

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Feb 25, 2026

Introduced in Senate

Related News

3 articles

The Washington Times·almost 2 years ago

House Democrats push bill to create investigative counsel at Supreme Court over ethics

House Democrats are pushing the Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act to create an investigative office within the Court to probe justices and purported conflicts of interest. The bill also mandates ethics training for justices and their spouses and requires reports to Congress.

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Democracy Docket·almost 2 years ago

House Dems Introduce Ethics Bill for US Supreme Court After Alito Controversy

The 'Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act' would establish an investigative body within the Court to probe potential ethical improprieties and an ethics counsel to advise on rules like recusal. The investigative body would report to Congress to ensure transparency and accountability.

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Insider NJ·almost 2 years ago

Sherrill Steps Up to Hold Supreme Court Justices Accountable and Restore Trust in the High Court

Rep. Mikie Sherrill and colleagues introduced the Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act. The bill establishes a dedicated investigative body and ethics counsel within the Court to provide transparency through exhaustive investigations and mandatory ethics training for justices.

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