In Bipartisan Bill, Senators Urge Suprem

Senators Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with Democrats, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a centrist Republican, introduced the legislation, which would also require the court to appoint an official to examine potential conflicts and public complaints.

“We’re trying to help the court help themselves,” Mr. King said.

The legislation is the latest effort by lawmakers to pressure the court to increase transparency and better police itself. It is unclear how many Republicans will back the measure. Without their support, it is unlikely to pass in a divided Congress.

Calls for an ethics code have intensified after recent reports underlined how few reporting requirements are in place and how compliance is often left to the justices themselves.

• Debt Limit Bill: House Republican leaders unveiled a proposal to lift the debt ceiling for one year in exchange for spending cuts and policy changes.
• G.O.P. Immigration Agenda: House Republicans turned a hearing with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas into an impeachment-focused interrogation and advanced restrictive border security legislation, despite significant G.O.P. opposition.
• Jim Jordan: The Republican congressman from Ohio defines himself by his penchant for punching back, whether against allegations that he was derelict in a sex abuse scandal or attempts to prosecute Donald Trump.
• A Chaotic Period: The high-profile absences of Senator Mitch McConnell and Senator Dianne Feinstein as they recover from injuries and illness has thrown the Senate into a state of uncertainty at a critical time.
• This month, ProPublica revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of free gifts and travel from Harlan Crow, a Texas billionaire and Republican donor. Mr. Crow also bought a series of properties from the justice and his family, including the home of Justice Thomas’s mother, in a deal worth more than $100,000.

  On Tuesday, Politico reported that Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and two partners had sold a vacation property to the chief of a major law firm, Greenberg Traurig, and that the justice had left blank a field in his disclosure form asking the identity of the buyer. The firm frequently has cases before the court.

  
  

• Under the measure, known as the Supreme Court Code of Conduct Act, the court would have to impose a code of conduct in a year, publish any rules on its website, designate an official to handle violations and publish an annual report about any complaints and actions taken.