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By Jenna Sundel
News Reporter
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The Supreme Court announced it had adopted revised rules on Tuesday requiring parties in court cases to submit stock ticker symbols if applicable.
The court said in a press release that many of the changes are designed to support newly developed software that will assist in identifying potential conflicts for the Supreme Court justices. The software will be used to run recusal checks by comparing information about parties and attorneys with lists created by each justice’s chambers, according to the court.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito or their families hold shares in publicly traded companies, Bloomberg Law reported, citing financial disclosures.
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Why It Matters
Trust in the Supreme Court remains near historic lows, according to polling.
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A Gallup poll released in October found that 49 percent of Americans say they trust the Supreme Court either “a great deal” (16 percent) or “a fair amount” (33 percent).
“That level of trust is among the lowest in Gallup’s trend, essentially matching the low point of 47% from 2022,” Gallup said.
What To Know
The new software will be used in addition to existing conflict-checking procedures, the court said. The system was designed and created by the Court’s Office of Information Technology in cooperation with the Court’s Legal and Clerk’s Offices. The new Rules of the Court took effect on Monday.
Alito has reported stakes in more than two dozen companies, according to Bloomberg Law.
Fix the Court, an organization advocating for reform to make federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court more open and accountable, said 11 of the 39 recusals this term were due to Alito’s stock ownership. Roberts’ last stock-based recusal occurred in 2021, according to the group.
Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, said the new rule is “a net positive” but should not have taken this long to implement.
“So although the new rule is a net positive since it comes in service of the full Court’s adoption of conflict-check software, it’s not a major improvement, and it should not have taken 827 days post-Code to implement,” Roth said in a statement.
What People Are Saying
Roth, also in the statement: “If the justices wanted to institute a more effective change related to their ethics and their investments, they’d agree as a Court not to hold any stocks during their tenures, since all it does is cause unnecessary recusals.”
Michael Gerhardt, Burton Craige Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of North Carolina, in previous comments to Newsweek: "The Court has made itself increasingly unaccountable and that is not a good thing; the shadow docket, their delegations, their enforcement of their own code of ethics, and interactions in clubs, societies, and other venues away from the public eye underscore how little accountability they have to the law, the public, and to Congress, which controls its budget."
What Happens Next
The U.S. Supreme Court is in its 2025-2026 term, which is expected to end in June.
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