Kagan and Barrett on Supreme Court ethics

Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett offered differing views Tuesday on whether the Supreme Court should adopt a formal enforcement mechanism for its code of ethics.

Justice Kagan said she supported a mechanism, such as a panel of respected federal judges, to help police justices' conduct. She said it would be important that the system "come from the judiciary itself," noting there are "real complexities" in how it could be implemented.

"I think that we would be better off with an enforcement mechanism," she told a House Appropriations subcommittee. "If nothing else, for public confidence. And also, an enforcement mechanism can also make clear that not every accusation, not every charge has anything to it."

Justice Barrett said she and her colleagues were "fully committed" to the ethics code but was "less certain" about creating a formal enforcement process.

"I'm certainly fully committed to the code, as are all of our colleagues, but because of some of the complexities that Justice Kagan identified, I'm just not quite sure," she told lawmakers.

Justice Barrett agreed any oversight should come from within the judiciary but said questions about who would select the judges and how a panel would be composed presented "complexities."

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