Thanks to quality investigative journalism, the American public has recently become widely aware of Supreme Court Justices enjoying the receipt of gifts - including luxury items and lavish vacations -  amounting to millions of dollars of unreported offerings. To highlight just one egregious example, Justice Thomas was revealed to have been gifted a $19,000 bible and a $500,000 vacation in Indonesia, among other luxury expenses, paid for by far-right mega donors. Supreme Court Justices should be held accountable to the same ethical standards we expect from other public servants. Congress must pass legislation curbing the bribery and corruption rampant in the Court: only then can trust in the expectation for impartial, binding Supreme Court opinions be restored.

The High Court Gift Ban Act (H.R. 8830), sponsored by Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD-8), would set a precedent for our Supreme Court Justices to uphold the integrity of the court and bring us a step closer to instilling a higher level of ethics that the Court must abide by. This legislation would ban justices from receiving gifts valued at more than $50 in a single instance or more than $100 in aggregate over the course of a year. It would also cap gifts of personal hospitality, which are currently unregulated, at a value equal to the tax threshold for personal gifts, currently about $18,000 - bringing the Supreme Court in line with similar Congressional and federal ethical standards. You can read the bill here, and read Rep. Raskin’s press release on the bill here. 

Your Representative should be committed to restoring transparency and integrity into the nation's highest court. With concrete policies setting an ethical standard, we can strengthen the judicial process and boost public trust in SCOTUS. Take just one moment now to urge your Representative to cosponsor and support the High Court Gift Ban Act.