Ethics

The NYT continues to push the story.  It asks whether the justices are showing enough decorum outside the court and mentions that Virginia Thomas has come under the "spotlight" for her political activities.  Three professors are asked to comment.  

Prof. Lucas Powe, Jr., opines that "Women do and should have the same right to careers separate from their spouses as men do."  

Prof. Glenn Reynolds makes a similar point, "On the subject of spouses, we abolished coverture long ago, and no longer regard wives as being legally 'merged' with their husbands. We don?t treat officeholders and their spouses as a single unit for ethical purposes (if we did, all those Congressional spouses currently working as lobbyists would be violating the law). So we?ll have to accept that justices? spouses are their own people, entitled to their own views and their own political participation." 

Prof. Stephen Wermiel says, "It would be helpful to know what issues Justice Thomas?s wife, Virginia, is involved in or what sources of financial support for her organization may pose a potential problem for Justice Thomas. If he gets to decide when to recuse himself, wouldn?t the public interest be better served by disclosing the circumstances of potential conflicts of interest? There may be no real conflict, but greater openness would help establish that point."