Booker, Goldman Introduce Bill Creating Independent Ethics Offices with Subpoena Power for Supreme Court

Supreme Court Ethics and Accountability Reform·May 20, 2025 – February 25, 2026

13 days ago

Booker, Goldman Introduce Bill Creating Independent Ethics Offices with Subpoena Power for Supreme Court

Legislative efforts to mandate a Supreme Court code of conduct remain stalled in committee, with the most recent proposals for independent investigative offices awaiting review since February. Until these measures advance, the Court continues to operate without statutory ethics oversight or external mechanisms to investigate conduct complaints.

2 months ago

Senator Booker introduces legislation establishing independent ethics offices for the Supreme Court.

Senator Booker introduced legislation to create independent offices for ethics advice and conduct investigations for the Supreme Court.

S. 3914Sen. Booker Introduces Bill to Create Independent Ethics and Investigative Offices for the Supreme Court

2 months ago

Rep. Goldman introduces House bill to establish expert-led Supreme Court ethics oversight

Representative Goldman introduced a companion bill in the House to establish objective ethics oversight led by legal experts.

H.R. 7692Rep. Goldman Introduces Bill to Create Independent Ethics and Investigative Offices for Supreme Court Justices

11 months ago

Senate Leaders Refer Bill Mandating Supreme Court Code of Conduct to Judiciary Committee

Senate leadership referred a bill to the Judiciary Committee that would mandate a written code of conduct within 180 days.

S. 1814Senate Bill Would Require Supreme Court Ethics Code, Gift Limits, and Public Complaint Process

11 months ago

House Proposal Mandates Supreme Court Gift Limits and Public Participation in Judicial Ethics Rulemaking

A House proposal was introduced to set clear gift limits and require public participation in the development of judicial ethics rules.

H.R. 3513House Committee Reviews Bill Requiring Supreme Court Ethics Code and Gift Limits

The Facts

Key Statements

SSen. Booker

“This bill creates two new offices to oversee the Supreme Court. One office would give justices advice on ethics rules, while the other would investigate complaints about their conduct.”

This describes the core investigative and advisory functions of the 2026 legislation.

RRep. Goldman

“These offices would be led by legal experts who have not worked for the Court before, helping to ensure they can be objective when reviewing the actions of the justices.”

This explains how the bill ensures the independence of the new oversight offices.

Who This Affects

1 groups

Mixed

Federal Employee

The bill would create new federal positions within the Supreme Court, including chief ethics counsel, chief investigative counsel, and additional staff—all with salaries starting at $180,000-$225,000. These are new jobs with strong protections (only removable for cause), but they also impose new oversight burdens on existing Supreme Court employees whose actions around ethics could come under scrutiny.

Policies

These four bills are organized into two sets of companion legislation. H.R. 3513 and S. 1814 focus on creating a code of conduct, while S. 3914 and H.R. 7692 propose creating independent offices to investigate ethics complaints.

S. 3914

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

Feb 25

H.R. 7692

Rep. Goldman Introduces Bill to Create Independent Ethics and Investigative Offices for Supreme Court Justices

Feb 25

H.R. 3513

House Committee Reviews Bill Requiring Supreme Court Ethics Code and Gift Limits

May 20

S. 1814

Senate Bill Would Require Supreme Court Ethics Code, Gift Limits, and Public Complaint Process

May 20

Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.