America’s Supreme Court should adopt new ethics standards

Next TERM will be agonising for the Supreme Court. Some combination of voters and courts will determine whether Donald Trump becomes president again and whether he goes to prison. President Joe Biden’s son has a case before the courts. Dozens of states have changed their voting laws since 2020 and the nine justices on the Supreme Court may be asked to look at them. If the presidential election in 2024 is close, the court may have to step in and adjudicate. With so much at stake, America needs a Supreme Court that is broadly seen as legitimate and, ideally, impartial. Regrettably, trust in the court is at its lowest point since pollsters began asking about it.This is partly because of polarisation. Supreme Court nominations are a knife-fight in the Senate: there is no longer even a pretence that confirming a justice should be above party politics. Four of the nine justices were nominated by the candidates who will probably contest next year’s presidential election. Thanks to brass-knuckle politics, lifetime tenure and quirks of fate, such as the timing of a liberal justice’s death, three were nominated by Mr Trump. He refers to them as “my judges”, as if they worked for him, which they do not. Meanwhile many left-leaning Americans are outraged at recent rulings on abortion and racial preferences. All this has undermined faith in the court, and much of it is beyond the justices’ control.