Appetite grows on Capitol Hill for code of conduct for Supreme Court justices after Ginni Thomas revelations

Washington — Momentum on Capitol Hill is building behind a congressional response to revelations that Virginia "Ginni" Thomas pushed former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to pursue efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, with lawmakers arguing the communications between the two underscore the need for a code of conduct for Supreme Court justices.

Legislation that would require the crafting of a set of ethics standards for members of the nation's highest court has been introduced in each Congress since 2011, according to Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, an organization that advocates for more judicial transparency and accountability. But there is growing enthusiasm from Democrats in both chambers to take up a measure that would ensure justices have to adhere to a binding code to ensure impartiality and transparency.

"This is a big domestic issue, losing the trust of one of the nine Supreme Court justices, and it's something I think that has broken through," Roth told CBS News. "There hasn't been something comparable on a judicial ethics scale in a very long time, so now is the time to capture that moment. It's not just the Justice Thomas issue where the ethics are lacking, but now is the time to do it, and I think Democrats are huddling. But there should be hearings, it should be a sustained effort, and pressure's got to mount."