Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act
Sponsored By: Senator Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ]
Introduced
Summary
Creates new ethics oversight for the Supreme Court by setting up separate offices to advise justices on ethical rules and to investigate complaints about justices and their families.
Show full summary
- Would create an Office of Ethics Counsel that advises justices and their spouses on gifts, financial disclosures, political activity, conflicts of interest, recusal, and handling nonpublic documents. The office would require licensed attorneys, provide biannual training, and deliver an annual report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
- Would create an Office of Investigative Counsel to review and investigate ethics complaints against justices and their spouses and dependents, staffed by a chief and additional investigative counsels. The chief would serve a single 6-year term, the office would have subpoena power enforceable in district court, and it must review complaints within 60 days and share findings with the Chief Justice and key congressional committees.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Investigations Office for Supreme Court Justices
If enacted, the bill would let the Chief Justice create an Office of Investigative Counsel inside the Supreme Court to review and investigate ethics complaints about justices and their spouses or dependents. Only certain congressional leaders could file complaints, such as Judiciary Committee chairs or ranking members, the House Speaker or Minority Leader, and the Senate Majority or Minority Leader. The chief investigative counsel would be appointed by the Chief Justice, serve a single 6-year term, must be a licensed lawyer with at least 7 years' experience, and would be paid at least $225,000 a year; other investigators would be paid at least $180,000 a year. The office would review each complaint within 60 days, open a full investigation within 15 days if warranted, have authority to issue subpoenas enforceable by a U.S. district court, send findings to the Chief Justice (or the most senior associate justice if the Chief is the subject), make reports available to specified congressional committees within 10 days, and notify the Attorney General if it has reasonable grounds to suspect a federal crime.
New Ethics Office for Supreme Court
If enacted, the bill would let the Chief Justice set up an Office of Ethics Counsel inside the Supreme Court. The office would advise justices and their spouses on gifts, financial disclosures, political activity, conflicts of interest, recusal, and unauthorized release of court documents. The chief ethics counsel would be appointed by the Chief Justice, could serve up to two 6-year terms, must be a licensed lawyer with at least 5 years' experience, and would be paid at least $225,000 a year; other counsels would be paid at least $180,000 a year. The office would give biannual ethics training to each justice and send a yearly report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees listing advice requests, topics, recommended fixes, and how often advice was not followed. The bill would define "gift" broadly and would define "political activity" to include paid speeches, fundraisers, donations, and endorsements.
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Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ]
NJ • D
Cosponsors
Richard Blumenthal
CT • D
Sponsored 2/25/2026
Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI]
HI • D
Sponsored 2/25/2026
Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA]
CA • D
Sponsored 2/25/2026
Sen. Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA]
CA • D
Sponsored 2/25/2026
Peter Welch
VT • D
Sponsored 2/25/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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