Conduct Unbecoming: The Ethics Crisis at the Supreme Court and How Legitimacy Can Be Restored

Conduct Unbecoming: The Ethics Crisis at the Supreme Court and How Legitimacy Can be Restored examines the ethics crisis on the Supreme Court, how the justices claim to comply with judicial ethics rules but do not do so, and the collapse in public confidence in the Court that follows. Justices' free travel with billionaires and other undisclosed gifts, failure to recuse from cases involving conflicts of interest, million-dollar book deals, dubious sources of spousal income, and displays of partisanship all undermine the Court's credibility.

This book explores the reasons for the Court's ethics problems, including justices' willingness to cover for their colleagues' ethics breaches, the well-financed special interest groups that help justices get nominated and confirmed to the Court, and the relationships that follow the justices thereafter. It also proposes reforms including changes to the confirmation process, more robust disclosure rules for justices and persons trying to influence the Court, and an ethics lawyer and inspector general for the Court. Painter concludes that ethics reform for the Court is urgently necessary, and even more so in an age when political extremists on the right and left are increasingly challenging the authority of the Court and principles of judicial review.