Majorities support gifts disclosure, code of ethics for Supreme Court justices: poll

Most Americans in a new poll support gift disclosure requirements and a code of ethics for Supreme Court Justices amid controversy over a report that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted luxury trips without disclosing them. 

A YouGov/The Economist poll found that 73 percent of U.S. adults support the Ethics and Government Act of 1978 requirement that justices report most gifts on their annual financial disclosure reports. Just 13 percent disapprove, and another 15 percent aren’t sure. 

Sixty-nine percent of respondents also said they’d support instituting a formal ethics code that would allow for justices to be investigated if they are accused of an ethical violation. Just 14 percent oppose, and another 17 percent aren’t sure. 

Democrats voiced upset after a ProPublica report that said a Republican mega-donor paid for Thomas to take part in various luxury vacations over two decades. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has even called for Thomas to be impeached over the discovery.

Thomas said after the report that he was “advised” that he did not need to disclose the trips. 

Just 24 percent of Americans in the poll said they approve of Thomas accepting the luxury trips without disclosure, while 58 percent said they disapprove. 

Forty-three percent said they think Thomas broke the law by not disclosing the trips, 28 percent think he didn’t and 29 percent aren’t sure. 

Conducted April 8-11, the poll surveyed 1500 U.S. adults and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.