Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson says she's open to an 'enforceable' Supreme Court ethics code

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said that she was supportive of proposals to implement an "enforceable code" of ethics for Supreme Court justices in an interview that aired Sunday.

"A binding code of ethics is pretty standard for judges, and so I guess the question is, 'is the Supreme Court any different?'" Jackson asked during an interview with "CBS News Sunday Morning" about her new memoir, adding, "I guess I have not seen a persuasive reason as to why the [Supreme] Court is different than the other courts."

The issue of ethics on the Supreme Court has entered the public sphere in recent years as stories have emerged about justices not disclosing certain lavish gifts on their ethics disclosure forms.

For example, Justice Clarence Thomas accepted lavish gifts and trips from GOP mega-donor Harlan Crow. None of these were officially disclosed before ProPublica's reporting in 2023 on the trips and Crow.

Asked directly about these trips, Jackson said she was "not going to comment on other justices interpretations of the rules or what they're doing."

Earlier this summer, President Joe Biden proposed a slate of reforms including a call for Congress to make the Supreme Court subject to an enforceable code, including the same disclosure rules for gifts, financial dealings and political activities that other federal judges face.

While the proposal included an enforceable ethics code for the court, Jackson declined to say whether there was a specific proposal on the table that she supported.

"I am considering supporting it as a general matter. I'm not going to get into commenting on particular policy proposals, but from my perspective, I don't have any problem with an enforceable code," Jackson said.

She also spoke about a recent case in front of the Supreme Court regarding presidential immunity for official acts in office.

The court ruled in July that former President Donald Trump has immunity for some of his conduct as president in his federal election interference case but he may not for other actions.

Jackson dissented in that case, writing that the decision “breaks new and dangerous ground.” On Sunday, she told CBS that she was, "concerned about a system that appeared to provide immunity for one individual under one set of circumstances when we had a criminal justice system that had ordinarily treated everyone the same.

Asked whether she was prepared to potentially decide the outcome of the upcoming presidential election or settle any potential disputes related to it, Jackson laughed, saying she is "as prepared as anyone can be."

"I think there are legal issues that arise out of the political process and so the Supreme Court has to be prepared to respond if that should be necessary," she added.