Senators to hear testimony on Supreme Court ethics

Supreme Court ethics are front and center Tuesday when the Senate Judiciary Committee hears testimony from a variety of witnesses ranging from judicial ethics experts to a former attorney general in the George W. Bush administration.

There will, however, be nobody there representing the central players in the current drama over high court ethics — no member of the court.

Chief Justice John Roberts last week declined the committee's invitation to testify, citing "separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving Judicial independence." Rather, he released a short letter to that effect, accompanied by a joint statement from all nine current justices reaffirming, apparently for the first time publicly, their voluntary adherence to the code of conduct that applies to lower federal court judges.

At the same time, however, the nine essentially insisted that because they are the Supreme Court, and thus different from other courts,