The Chief Justice Ushers in the New Year with Superior Cheer
Posted by kswisher on Sunday, January, 15, 2012
Although admittedly old news by now, Chief Justice Roberts used his annual report to defend his Court’s indefensible lack of a judicial ethics code. His defenses playfully distill into these three: (1) the other justices and I are good people so we do not need binding rules; (2) we and our court are special; and (3) ethics codes cannot guarantee ethical behavior (only the good people mentioned in (1) can do that). The principle of “a government of law and not of [wo/]men” was reversed.
To read the report, which is only twelve pages, click here. Interestingly, the report begins and ends with the well-known tale of Judge Landis, without discussing the various conflicts and appearances in that tale; it almost makes one wonder whether the Chief Justice would like to take on a second job as “Commissioner of Baseball.”
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