WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts, in his year-end report on the state of the federal judiciary, on Saturday offered a vigorous defense of the U.S. Supreme Court’s handling of ethical issues. He also said he has “complete confidence in the capability of my colleagues to determine when recusal is warranted.”
Though he said he was not specifically addressing “ongoing debates” about justices’ ethics, Roberts was clearly responding to recent calls for applying the judicial code of conduct for lower courts to Supreme Court justices. Those proposals have been triggered by criticism from both ends of the political spectrum of Justices Elena Kagan and Clarence Thomas for participating in the upcoming cases challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Critics have pointed out that justices have no rules governing their recusal actions, and no one reviews their decisions to stay in or bow out of a case.
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