This is in conversation from Apple News. I'm Shemeita Basu. Today, the

Institutional crisis at the Supreme Court and what reform could look like.

We are taught that our government is based on a system of checks and balances.

The executive branch, legislative and judicial branch, they're all supposed to be able to reign each other in. But with the Supreme Court's

code of ethics under so much scrutiny lately, the question is, who is above the highest court in the

land?

Separation of powers is a two-way street,

and I think this is where the conversation has gone off the rails.

That's Stephen Vladdick, a law professor

at the University of Texas and longtime Supreme Court watcher.

There's no doubt that the Constitution intends for the federal judiciary to be independent,

but there's also no doubt that independence does not mean

unaccountable. The most recent calls for more accountability come after ProPublica's

reporting earlier this year that reveal that for more than two decades,

Justice Clarence Thomas had accepted unreported gifts and luxury trips from a billionaire

Republican donor.

Justice Thomas has said he was advised he didn't need to disclose those trips

because they were considered personal hospitality.

Justice Thomas has been criticized in the past for other possible ethics violations, including his wife

Jenny Thomas's involvement in attempts to undermine the 2020 presidential election.

He's not the only justice under the microscope.

Politico recently found that Justice Neil Gorsuch didn't disclose selling property to a law firm

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