The Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges and the federal law governing disqualification of judges and justices have been very much in the news lately, in part (but not only) because of the activism of Virginia Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas. This podcast explains both the code and the federal law, why it is that Supreme Court Justices alone among judges in the U.S. are not governed by an ethics code, and some proposed legislative solutions.

Stephen Gillers is the Elihu Root Professor of Law and Barbara Gillers is an Adjunct Professor of Law, both at New York University School of Law.