Joseph Sabino Mistick: Ethics hypocrisy of the Supreme Court

If you don’t have the stomach for more hypocrisy in government and politics these days, stay away from the plight of New Jersey Superior Court Judge Gary N. Wilcox versus the impunity with which United States Supreme Court justices operate.

Wilcox is facing judicial ethics charges for posting 40 TikTok videos in which he lip-synchs rap song lyrics. According to the state Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, Wilcox “exhibited poor judgment and demonstrated disrespect for the Judiciary and an inability to conform to the high standards of conduct expected of judges.”

You wouldn’t want your kids to hear some of the lyrics Wilcox has repeated, but, to be fair, they hear those same lyrics when they stream the same rap songs. Wilcox’s judicial sin seems to be that while he was indulging his inner entertainer, the judicial conduct committee was not entertained.

Wilcox is charged with violating one canon that requires that he act in a manner “that promotes public confidence” and another that he “not cast reasonable doubt on the judge’s capacity to act impartially as a judge, demean the judicial office or interfere with the proper performance of judicial duties.” If found guilty, he could be removed from the bench.

Wilcox did not accept gifts or luxury vacations from friends and supporters or someone with a history of promoting a certain judicial philosophy. He did not accept tuition money for a family member or participate in a sweetheart real estate deal — things that could create a perception of impropriety, an impression that he could be influenced.

Only United States Supreme Court justices can do that and not face consequences. Justice Samuel Alito accepted a luxury fishing vacation from a billionaire who later had a case before the Supreme Court, in which Alito did not recuse himself. Justice Clarence Thomas has taken the brunt of the accusations for tuition payments and a real estate deal, along with vacations — including yachts, jets and chefs — valued at around $500,000, paid for by billionaire Republican activist Harlan Crow.

Thomas claims he checked with some colleagues who told him that his actions were OK because the vacations were “personal hospitality.” If Wilcox says he got the OK from some of his colleagues for his TikTok appearances, that wouldn’t wash. The difference is that Wilcox, unlike Alito and Thomas, is held to a code of ethics.

As NBC News has reported, “Of the 4 million employees who work for the federal government, 11 of the highest-ranking ones are not bound by some of the ethics laws, rules and regulations which other public servants must follow: the president, the vice president and the nine justices of the Supreme Court.”

You can’t be blamed if that strikes you as un-American. Millions of federal employees, including all federal judges, have a code of ethics they must follow. But the nine Supreme Court justices are beyond accountability; they are not subject to the rules that apply to everybody else. It is long past time for an enforceable Supreme Court ethics code.

Lawyers and law professors debate the fine points of this issue at academic conferences and in journals. But what they think about all this counts for little. The only thing that counts is whether the average American thinks that he or she can get a fair shake, a shot at justice — from the lowest court to the highest court in the land.