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Lawmakers worry that enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court’s new code of conduct will fall on congressional shoulders.

In the halls of Congress Wednesday, legislators such as Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., questioned who would enforce the code and called it a 鈥渂ig problem.鈥�

鈥淪upreme Court members cannot remove themselves,鈥� Takano said. 鈥淭he accountability comes back to Congress. When there鈥檚 no remedy or enforcement, I don鈥檛 get the teeth.鈥�

Similarly, Rep. Jim Banks, R- Ind., said he had not reviewed the ethics code yet but the potential 鈥減urely internal鈥� process concerned him.

鈥淲e all are checked-and-balanced by people outside of our organizations,鈥� Banks said. 鈥淢y guess is there鈥檚 more of a role for Congress than they鈥檒l take care of themselves.鈥�

Monday, the Supreme Court published a 15-page code of conduct, the first-ever code in the court鈥檚 234 years.

Media outlets including and recently reported Justice Clarence Thomas鈥檚 personal relationship with billionaire real estate developer Harlan Crow, a conservative donor.

鈥嬧赌� also revealed Justice Samuel Alito did not recuse himself from a case with a hedge fund billionaire who earlier gifted the justice a private jet trip to Alaska.聽

Justice Sonya Sotomayor also came under fire this year following accusations she leveraged public appearances to sell more autobiographies, according to the .

The new list of rules is in response to the perception that justices 鈥渞egard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules,鈥� according to a statement by the court.

All nine justices signed the 15-page document codifying principles of conduct.

Who rules the Court?

Rep. Jim Jordan, R- Ohio, said the code 鈥渋s fine鈥� because he preferred the legislative branch to not impose upon the judiciary.

While the Supreme Court never previously published a code of ethics or decorum, Article One of the U.S. Constitution accounted for legislative oversight of the judiciary. A simple majority in the House would impeach a justice鈥� a subsequent two-thirds Senate vote would then remove the judge from the high court.

In 1804, the House impeached Justice Samuel Chase though the Senate later acquitted him, according to the . He is the only impeached Supreme Court justice.

Washington College of Law Professor Stephen Wermiel said the new code is an effort to 鈥渒eep Congress off [justices鈥橾 backs.鈥澛�

The new code adapted the to the specific demands of the Supreme Court, according to the high court鈥檚 commentary section.

Some of the standards outlined how justices 鈥渟hould avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety鈥� and they 鈥渟hould not be swayed by partisan interests, public clamor, or fear of criticism.鈥�

Monday’s code of ethics lacked an implementation mechanism which leaves justices to regulate themselves, Wermiel said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not necessarily a great way to enforce an ethics code,鈥� Wermiel said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to change the way they do things and that鈥檚 frustrating to many people who had hoped that they would come up with an ethics code that had some more teeth and enforcement mechanism.鈥�

Wermiel said the Supreme Court would not realistically allow another entity to discipline their ethics, though some members of Congress wanted some form of outside oversight.

Rep. Steve Cohen, D- Tenn., said the court needs to impose 鈥渟ome type of sanctions,鈥� to enforce the rules. He said 鈥渘obody鈥� currently holds the court accountable.

鈥淭hey just take care of each other,鈥� Cohen said. 鈥淭he Supreme Court鈥檚 not going to enforce against their own.鈥�

The word 鈥渟hould鈥� appeared 52 times in the new conduct code, while binding verbs like 鈥渕ust鈥� and 鈥渟hall鈥� appear six and zero times.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D- N.Y., called the code 鈥渁 fig leaf for the court.鈥�

鈥�I think of it as more of a [public relations] effort than anything that鈥檚 actually a serious measure,鈥� Ocasio-Cortez said.