The Center for Renewing America has submitted an ethics complaint against Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The complaint by the conservative policy group led by former senior Trump White House official Russ Vought alleges that Jackson “willfully” omitted required income disclosures for several years while serving on the federal bench.
According to a report by Fox News Digital, in a letter addressed to the Judicial Conference, Vought’s think tank contends that Justice Jackson failed to disclose essential information about her husband’s malpractice consulting income for over a decade.
The Center for Renewing America urges the Judicial Conference to refer Jackson’s alleged ethics violations to Attorney General Merrick Garland for investigation and potential civil enforcement.
Federal judges are obligated to disclose the source of items of earned income earned by a spouse exceeding $1,000.
However, the letter claims that Jackson repeatedly failed to disclose her husband’s income from medical malpractice consulting fees in subsequent filings after her initial nomination to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The complaint cites Jackson’s admission in her amended disclosure form for 2020, filed during her Supreme Court nomination, acknowledging that some of her previously filed reports had inadvertently omitted her husband’s income from consulting on medical malpractice cases.
Vought argues in the letter that Justice Jackson’s husband’s income does not qualify for the “self-employment” exception, as the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 requires the identification of the source of earned income exceeding $1,000.
The letter also raises concerns about Justice Jackson’s failure to report the private funding sources of her investiture celebration at the Library of Congress, following her appointment to the Supreme Court in 2022.
The complaint highlights the absence of information regarding who funded the event, emphasizing that the Ethics in Government Act mandates the disclosure of any gift received over $415.
Vought alleges a “disturbing trend” in Jackson’s failure to report material sources of income and gifts, claiming that it has “shielded potential conflicts of interest from public scrutiny” and undermined transparency in her recusal decisions.
The Judicial Conference and Attorney General Merrick Garland will now play a pivotal role in determining the validity of these allegations.
