WASHINGTON — Federal courts have implemented a rare tweak to their ethics rules for Supreme Court justices and federal judges following bipartisan congressional pressure.
The Judicial Conference of the United States has adopted a new reporting rule for travel and other hospitality gifts with a narrower exemption for what’s known as “personal hospitality,” according to a letter released Tuesday through Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, & Federal Rights.
The change from the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts comes following years of pressure on the court over ethics issues, with Whitehouse as one of the most vocal on the issue, and a string of public reports about the ethics decisions of the justices.
