Sponsors (11)
The bill substantially strengthens ethics oversight, transparency, and enforcement for the Supreme Court—but it raises costs and risks to judicial independence, privacy, and potential politicization of investigations.
All Americans/taxpayers: creates an independent Office to investigate Supreme Court ethics complaints with a Chief Investigative Counsel and the ability to compel evidence, giving the public stronger, centralized oversight of justices.
Supreme Court justices and the judiciary: gives investigators subpoena power and district-court enforcement (including contempt), providing real enforcement tools to follow up on ethics concerns.
Supreme Court justices: requires regular, expert ethics guidance and biannual mandatory ethics training for each justice, which should reduce conflicts of interest and improve compliance with disclosure and recusal rules.
Supreme Court independence and public trust: concentrating appointing and removal authority (including 'for cause' removal only) in the Chief Justice for ethics and investigative counsel risks undermining the independence and perceived impartiality of oversight.
All Americans/congress: allowing congressional leaders to file complaints creates a real risk that investigations could be politicized, turning ethics enforcement into a political tool.
Taxpayers: the bill creates ongoing personnel and administrative costs (including specified salaries), increasing federal judicial payroll and other expenses paid by taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Establishes internal Office of Ethics Counsel and Office of Investigative Counsel for Supreme Court justices, with appointment rules, training, reporting, and subpoena authority.
Introduced February 25, 2026 by Daniel Goldman · Last progress February 25, 2026
Creates two new internal offices inside the Supreme Court: an Office of Ethics Counsel to advise justices (and their spouses) on financial disclosures, gifts, conflicts, political activity, and confidentiality; and an Office of Investigative Counsel to review and investigate ethics complaints about justices (and their spouses/dependents), with subpoena power and procedures for reporting findings to the Chief Justice, Congress, and the Attorney General. The law sets appointment rules, qualifications, pay minimums, reporting timelines, training requirements for justices, and a severability clause.