Experts from the University of North Florida spoke on how the judicial branch can restore public trust at a panel event on Monday night at the Student Union. 

The free public event, “Trust in Justice: Debating Supreme Court Ethics,” was a collaboration between UNF’s Office of Public Policy and The Florida Blue Center for Ethics for the Ethics Week programming.

Students and community members gathered at the Student Union Ballroom to hear from UNF faculty panelists Nicholas Seabrook, political science chair and professor, Adrienne Lerner, director of pre-law and professor and Justin Sorrell, senior associate General Counsel member.

The panelists spoke on a diverse range of topics related to Supreme Court ethics including term limits for justices, internal decision leaks and how the judicial system navigates conflicts of interest.

Seabrook opened the conversation by sharing his perspective on the Supreme Court. As the only non-attorney on the panel, he said that he tends to view the Supreme Court as a “political and policy-making body.”

Regarding the recent ethical controversies within the U.S. Supreme Court, Seabrook said that “it’s hard not to see partisan motivations at work.” 

“Sometimes these controversies are often fueled by political disagreements with the court’s rule,” Seabrook said.

Lerner, who was a practicing attorney before becoming a professor, said that when she was in law school she was frustrated with the federal court system.

“I too believed that justices were making policy choices [and] that law was not free from policy.”

Sorrell shared his views as a practicing lawyer and said the Supreme Court “is massively important” to him.

“I have a strong interest in an ethical, stable Supreme Court because it matters to me as a lawyer,” Sorrell said.

Since justices are federal employees, there is a cap on how much outside income they are allowed to earn. However, several justices have found a loophole by writing books or memoirs and therefore earning large sums of money in royalties and advances.

Seabrook said that the Supreme Court Code of Conduct exempts book and memoir advances from the limits of outside income. This exception is made explicit in the commentary section of the code.

Sorrell provided his insight on how the public can increase its trust in the Supreme Court and said justices should hold themselves to be “moral exemplars.” He said the justices could gain back the public’s trust if they “lived up to the standards that other attorneys and judges hold.”

At the beginning of the event, attendees received a ticket to claim a free ethics t-shirt on Oct. 21. At the end of the discussion, panelists gave students time to ask questions.

Seabrook, who often moderates UNF’s public policy events, has been teaching about the Supreme Court at UNF for 15 years. 

“This was the first event that we’ve done that is in my area of expertise,” said Seabrook.

Seabrook has worked with both Lerner and Sorrell at UNF in the past. He enjoyed speaking with them for this panel since they have practiced law rather than only taught it.

This was Seabrook’s first time working with Jonathan Matheson, Director of the Florida Blue Center for Ethics. Matheson reached out to him this summer to organize an event about ethics in the legal system for Ethics Week.

Lerner, who has been at UNF since 2016, appreciated the opportunity to speak at the panel and enjoyed hearing the diverse perspectives among the panelists.  

Lerner “knew” she wanted to become a law professor to teach undergraduate students. “I love answering questions from students and the public,” she said.

Bethley Luctama, a senior in political science and English, was excited to attend the event after hearing that Lerner, her former internship professor, would be on the panel.

Luctama said she enjoyed the topics the panelists discussed. 

“I didn’t know that there was an issue with recusals. It was interesting to hear the panelists’ opinions on it—that was the part of the discussion I engaged with the most.”

According to Seabrook, one more public policy event will be hosted this fall semester: “Religion, Empire, and Business School” on Nov. 6 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. The event will feature guest speaker Deonnie Moodie, department chair and professor of religious studies at the University of Oklahoma.

Students can celebrate the UNF’s first-annual Ethics Week until Oct. 18 by checking out the schedule of events.

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