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If the perception of the American public is that we have a segment of our judiciary that’s not policing itself adequately because it has no rules that dictate how they are to conduct themselves, I think it does create a real problem.

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— Senior Judge Reggie Walton (D.D.C.), in comments given during a conference earlier this week on the need for Supreme Court justices to be subject to a judicial ethics code. Walton continued, noting that he found it “unimaginable that we have a segment of our federal judiciary that’s not subject to an ethics code.” He went on to explain that while his comments may be considered “heresy,” there have been other federal judges who have “engaged in atrocious behavior, sexual assault, sexual intimidation and other misconduct,” and we “haven’t been proactive in punishing them and sanctioning them for what they’ve done.”

Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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Courts, Judicial Ethics, Legal Ethics, Quote of the Day, SCOTUS, Supreme Court