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Friend -

It’s no secret that many, many Americans have or are losing trust in our government. I hear constantly that folks are bowing out of elections, out of watching the news, and feeling like neither political party (nor our democratic system) is working for them. Unfortunately, it's easy to see why.

I’m sure you’ve seen the recent news about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ financial disclosures. It’s clear he wanted to hide the significant sums he was gifted from his billionaire friends.

But there’s more to this story: Supreme Court Justices have to fill out a financial disclosure form just like 435 members of Congress and 100 senators. So this should have been the place he annually disclosed the gifts.

But unlike SCOTUS, folks in the legislative and executive branches also have to sign a code of conduct that makes explicit what kinds of gifts you can accept. In Congress, we’re expressly forbidden from accepting anything like what we now know Justice Thomas has taken. The limit is $50.

So while he failed to disclose the hundreds of thousands in gifts, he technically hasn’t explicitly violated a code of ethics, because he didn’t sign one.

That’s why last week I announced The Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act (SCERT). This legislation would reform the Supreme Court’s code of ethics to require disclosure of gifts and travel. It would also importantly require justices recuse themselves from cases where they may have a conflict of interest – like those with individuals who may have lobbied on behalf of the justice's confirmation.

No one is above the law – especially public servants. Transparency and accountability are a must if we want to restore trust in our democracy and ensure our system is working in favor of the American people instead of special interests. This legislation is a step in that direction.

I’ll continue to work to this end both in Congress and while I run to bring some Midwestern pragmatism to the U.S. Senate! If we hope to restore faith in government, we need to start with the people we send to serve.

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Elissa
 


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