S. 1814 — Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act of 2025

This section establishes new requirements in Chapter 16 of title 28, United States Code, as follows: (1) directs the Supreme Court, within 180 days of enactment, to issue a code of conduct for its justices after public notice and comment under 28 U.S.C. §2071, and authorizes future modifications through the same process; (2) directs the Judicial Conference, within 180 days of enactment, to issue a code of conduct for judges of the courts of appeals, district courts (including bankruptcy and magistrate judges), and Court of International Trade, with the same modification process; (3) requires the Supreme Court to post its code, rules under 28 U.S.C. §677, and related ethics rules on its website in a full-text, searchable, sortable, and downloadable format; and (4) establishes procedures, modeled on existing judicial misconduct processes (28 U.S.C. §§351-364), for filing complaints against justices alleging violations of the new code, 28 U.S.C. §455 (disqualification of justices and judges), other federal law, or conduct undermining the Court's integrity. Complaints must include the complainant's signature, specific facts, and a sworn statement under penalty of perjury, with restrictions on abusive filers; upon receipt, the Supreme Court refers complaints to a randomly selected panel of five circuit chief judges, which investigates (with subpoena power), reports findings and recommendations to the Court within 30 days if not dismissing (and publishes the report), or publishes if dismissal serves the public interest. (Thus, this creates for the first time a formal ethics code and misconduct complaint process applicable to Supreme Court justices, which lower federal courts already have.)

This section directs the Counselor to the Chief Justice, with the Chief Justice's approval, to establish rules governing the acceptance of gifts and the disclosure of gifts, income, or reimbursements—as defined in 5 U.S.C. §13101—received by Supreme Court justices and their law clerks. Such rules must, at minimum, require disclosure of information on gifts, income, and reimbursements to the same extent as under the Standing Rules of the Senate and the Rules of the House of Representatives and restrict gift acceptance and require written approval processes for certain gifts to the same extent as under those congressional rules.

This section expands grounds for disqualification of federal justices, judges, magistrate judges, and bankruptcy judges under 28 U.S.C. 455 by adding two new circumstances in subsection (b): (1) where the judge knows a party or affiliate made a lobbying contact (as defined in the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995) or spent substantial funds supporting the judge's nomination, confirmation, or appointment; and (2) where the judge, spouse, minor child, or their privately held entity received income, a gift, or reimbursement (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 13101) from a party or affiliate during the six years before assignment to the proceeding through final disposition. The section further revises subsection (c) to require judges to ascertain their own personal and fiduciary financial interests, those of their spouse and minor children, and any spousal or minor child interests substantially affected by the proceeding (replacing prior knowledge requirements); limits divestment to cure disqualification solely under subsection (b)(4) (previously broader); adds subsection (g) requiring immediate notice to parties upon learning of a disqualifying condition; makes technical and conforming amendments throughout to explicitly include justices and bankruptcy judges; and directs courts to require clerks to publish on court websites notice of disqualifications, rulings on disqualification motions (under new 28 U.S.C. 1660), and explanations identifying each circumstance (with majority panel redaction of private or sensitive information).

This section establishes in 28 U.S.C. §1660 a procedure for parties to file timely motions to disqualify a U.S. justice, judge, magistrate judge, or bankruptcy judge when required under federal law, supported by a certificate of good faith and an affidavit of sufficient facts. The subject judge must grant the motion or certify it to a reviewing panel—three randomly selected judges from courts and circuits other than the subject judge's or panel members' (with no more than one from the same circuit)—and stay the proceeding until final determination; the panel must allow the subject judge to submit written views beforehand. For motions against a Supreme Court justice, the reviewing panel is the Supreme Court excluding that justice.

This section directs the Supreme Court to prescribe rules of procedure, not later than one year after enactment, requiring each party or amicus in a proceeding to disclose in its petition or brief (1) any gift, income, or reimbursement—as defined in 5 U.S.C. §13101—provided to any justice during the two-year period before commencement of the proceeding through final disposition by the party or amicus (or affiliate), its lawyers or law firms, or its officers, directors, or employees; and (2) any lobbying contact or substantial expenditure by those persons in support of a justice's nomination, confirmation, or appointment.

This section establishes disclosure requirements in amicus briefs filed in U.S. courts (i.e., briefs submitted by non-parties to provide information or arguments to the court). It requires the filer to list the name of any person who (1) contributed to preparing or submitting the brief, (2) contributed at least 3% of the amicus's (or affiliate's) gross annual revenue for the prior calendar year (if the amicus is not an individual), or (3) contributed more than $100,000 to the amicus (or affiliate) in the prior calendar year, with exceptions for ordinary-course commercial transactions and unrelated investments. The section further directs the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to conduct an annual audit of compliance.

This section directs the Supreme Court of the United States and the Judicial Conference of the United States to prescribe rules of procedure, in accordance with the Rules Enabling Act (28 U.S.C. §§ 2072-2074), prohibiting the filing of or striking an amicus brief that would result in the disqualification of a justice, judge, or magistrate judge. It requires the Supreme Court to transmit the proposed rules to Congress not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, with any additional rules transmitted pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2074.

This section directs the Director of the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) to conduct a study on federal judges' compliance with judicial recusal requirements under 28 U.S.C. §§144 (request for recusal due to bias or prejudice) and 455 (disqualification to avoid appearance of partiality), initially not later than 180 days after enactment and biennially thereafter by December 1, with results submitted to Congress; authorizes a delay for the first study upon written notice to congressional committees; and requires FJC to maintain records of judicial non-assignments due to conflicts and post-assignment disqualifications. This section further requires the FJC Director to submit to Congress, by April 1 annually following each study, a report on study findings and recommendations to improve recusal compliance. This section directs the Comptroller General (GAO), if requested by the Senate or House Judiciary Committee after consulting GAO and at least every five years thereafter, to review and report to Congress on the FJC study's methodology and findings and on the judicial audit under new 28 U.S.C. §1661; and authorizes GAO access to FJC, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and Supreme Court records for these reviews, consistent with 31 U.S.C. §715 (GAO's general audit access authority).