HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

154

THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Strongly urging the supreme court of the united states to adopt a formal ethics code for the justices.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the disclosure of conflicts of interest and potential or perceived conflicts of interest are important to promoting openness, transparency, and trust in our judicial system; and

 

     WHEREAS, in Caperton v. A. T. Massey Coal Co., 556 U.S. 868 (2009), Justice Kennedy, writing for the court, stated that, "[judicial] codes of conduct serve to maintain the integrity of the judiciary and the rule of law"; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Code of Conduct for United States Judges is a set of ethical principles and guidelines adopted by the Judicial Conference of the United States and includes specific rules about ethics, integrity, and appearances of impropriety relating to outside business and political activities and the acceptance of gifts; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Code of Conduct for United States Judges applies to federal circuit judges, district judges, Court of International Trade judges, Court of Federal Claims judges, bankruptcy judges, and magistrate judges; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Judicial Conference of the United States, which promulgated the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, does not have the authority to bind the Supreme Court of the United States; and

 

     WHEREAS, the nine justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are not bound by any code of conduct; and

 

     WHEREAS, on February 3, 2022, leading legal ethics scholars sent a letter to Chief Justice Roberts requesting that he draft a formal ethics code for the Supreme Court of the United States; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, the Senate concurring, that the Supreme Court of the United States is strongly urged to adopt a code of ethics similar to the Code of Conduct for United States Judges; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and members of Hawai‘i's congressional delegation.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Code of Conduct; Ethics; Supreme Court of the United States