NPR's A Martinez talks to Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Supreme Court ethics.

A new sexual misconduct allegation against Justice Brett Kavanugh raises questions about why the Supreme Court doesn't have a code of conduct. Ari Shapiro talks to NPR's Nina Totenberg.

The written code of conduct nods at the public pressure the Court is facing, but it can’t do much to change the justices’ behavior.

The story renewed calls for the court to adopt a formal ethics code. Although the court is subject to some federal laws governing gift disclosure, it has no formal code of ethics.

A Supreme Court ethics code could delineate the circumstances in which a justice may address an overtly political audience.

The country would be well-served and faith in the judiciary restored if the nation's highest court created and followed an ethics code, as Congress is urging.