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II
117TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. 956
To require adequate reporting of ethics, personal finance, and disclosure
reports for justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH 24, 2021
Mr. KENNEDY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To require adequate reporting of ethics, personal finance,
and disclosure reports for justices of the Supreme Court
of the United States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supreme Court Trans-
4
parency Act’’.
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SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS RELATING TO JUSTICES
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OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED
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STATES.
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(a) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF ETHICS, PERSONAL
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FINANCE, AND DISCLOSURE FORMS FOR THE CHIEF JUS-
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•S 956 IS
TICE
AND
ASSOCIATE
JUSTICES
OF
THE
UNITED
1
STATES.—
2
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after
3
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrative
4
Office of the United States Courts shall establish a
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searchable internet database system on an official
6
website of the United States Government, to enable
7
public access to any ethics, personal finance, or dis-
8
closure report required to be made under Federal
9
law by the Chief Justice or an associate justice of
10
the Supreme Court, including any amendment or up-
11
date to such a report.
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(2) AVAILABILITY.—Any report described in
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paragraph (1), including any amendment or update
14
to such a report, shall be made publically available
15
on the database established under paragraph (1) not
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later than 30 days after the date on which the re-
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port is filed.
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(3) LIMITATION ON REDACTION.—
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(A) IN
GENERAL.—Any document made
20
public in the database established under para-
21
graph (1) may be redacted only—
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(i) to the extent necessary to protect
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the individual who filed the report or a
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family member of that individual; and
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•S 956 IS
(ii) during the period during which
1
the danger to such individual or a family
2
member exists.
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(B) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year
4
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Ju-
5
dicial Conference of the United States, in con-
6
sultation with the Department of Justice, shall
7
promulgate regulations setting forth the cir-
8
cumstances under which redaction is appro-
9
priate under this subsection and the procedures
10
for redaction.
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(b) PERIODIC
TRANSACTION
REPORTS.—Section
12
103(l) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C.
13
App.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
14
‘‘(11) The Chief Justice of the United States
15
and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court.’’.
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(c) SEVERABILITY CLAUSE.—If any provision of this
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section or an amendment made by this section, or the ap-
18
plication of such a provision or amendment to any person
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or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the re-
20
maining provisions of this section and amendments made
21
by this section, and the application of such provisions and
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amendments to any other person or circumstance, shall
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not be affected thereby.
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Æ
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