Where I Stand

Ongoing reports of potential ethical concerns of Supreme Court justices are troubling and underscore the fact that the Supreme Court justices are the only federal judges that are not bound by a specific code of conduct. Virtually every judge in the country – whether in the state or federal system — already follows a publicly available code of conduct. In fact, every state court across the nation has its own set of standards, as does the entire federal judicial system. All but the nine justices of the Supreme Court, that is. 

Standards matter for the conduct our elections, too. In too many places across the country, voters face onerous restrictions that discourage them from casting a ballot. Some states draw discriminatory electoral districts. Dark money pays for tens of thousands of ads seeking to influence election outcomes. And even when all the votes are counted, some choose to ignore them and instead challenge the will of the people. Congress has the power to fix these ills in our electoral system and strengthen our democracy.

Expanded civics education in school could help ensure that young Americans are able to engage more deeply with our national values from an early age — improving civic engagement and our democracy for years to come. There are valuable lessons to learn from our past that can help us continue to increase opportunity, equality, and justice for all Americans into the future.

What I've Done

• In the aftermath of the January 6^th insurrection, released a discussion draft of Electoral Count Act reforms to inform the conversation in Congress surrounding tightening up our electoral process to respect the will of the people. Many of these reforms became law in 2022, ensuring that future Presidential transitions are a moment to celebrate our democracy, rather than fear for its future.

• Introduced the bipartisan Supreme Court Code of Conduct Act, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to require the justices to come up with a code of conduct. The code needs to be made publicly available, and the bill establishes their own oversight structures to ensure the code they create is followed.
• The bill is designed to help the court re-establish its reputation and the respect it should have from all American’s regardless of party affiliation or personal beliefs.

• Introduced the Constitution Education is Valuable in Community Schools (CIVICS) Act, which would support the development of Constitution and civics education curriculum schools across the country. I also co-led the introduction of the Civics Secures Democracy Act, which would provide grants to support civics and history education programs.
• Introduced the Freedom to Vote Act because the right to vote is the fundamental right in our republic — the security of all other rights, and indeed of our Constitution itself, flow from it. 
  • The bill would make several important reforms, such as promote same-day voter registration (which we have in Maine), expand access to mail-in voting, making Election Day a federal holiday, and limit the influence of dark money in our elections.