When I heard the Senate was meeting to consider new Supreme Court ethical rules today, I knew

exactly who I wanted to speak with.

Jeremy Fogel.

That is, Judge Jeremy Fogel.

He's retired now, but still.

I mean, I described myself as an ethics geek.

My first committee work, when I was a state court judge, a young state court judge

at California in the 1980s, my first committee assignment was to be on the state's judicial

ethics committee, and I became the chair of that committee.

That was just a start.

A few years later, Fogel took over a committee that reviewed Judge's financial disclosure

forms.

After retiring from the bench, he made a career educating judges about their ethical obligations.

What I'm saying is, when it comes to judicial ethics, he's the guy.

As you can imagine, Judge Fogel has watched with increasing horror over the last year,

as Supreme Court justices ensnared themselves in one ethical scandal after another, accepting

free plane rides and boat trips, getting their government staff to sell their books.

He can't help comparing it with his own experience as a judge.

Like this one time, when he was working in federal court, Judge Fogel's teenage son had

gotten pretty close with a rich classmate, like private plane rich.

One of this kid's parents was the CEO of a big company.

Anyway, his son gets invited on a ski vacation with his family.

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