A Judicial Conference panel last week re-opened its investigation into two judges who hired a law clerk accused of making racist comments—a move ethics experts praised given the high-profile nature of the matter and broader concerns over how the judiciary polices itself.

The Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability concluded that Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit should have referred complaints against Eleventh Circuit Judge William Pryor and U.S. District Judge Corey Maze over their hiring of Antonin Scalia Law School student Crystal Clanton to a special committee with more far-reaching investigative powers, instead of dismissing them. Clanton reportedly sent a text while working at a conservative student group saying she hates Black people.