The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently. The court cannot (1)_______ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law (2)_______ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that (3)_______ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.

    Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be (4)_______ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not (5)_______ by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself. (6)_______ to the code of conduct that (7)_______ to the rest of the federal judiciary.

    This and other similar cases (8)_______ the question of whether there is still a (9)_______ between the court and politics.

The framers of the Constitution envisioned law (10)_______ having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions (11)_______ they would be free to (12)_______ those in power and have no need to (13)_______ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely (14)_______ .

    Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social (15)_______ like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it (16)_______ is inescapably political—which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily (17)_______ as unjust.

    The justices must (18)_______ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves (19)_______ to the code of conduct. That would make their rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and, (20)_______, convincing as law.

答案精析：动词辨析题。空处所填动词与that引导的定语从句的谓语动词，其主语是code of conduct（行为准则），这里将the federal judiciary（联邦司法体系）分为the court（法院）和the rest（其他司法机构），前文已经提到法院不受行为准则的支配，因而其他司法机构应该受行为准则支配，也就是行为准则适用于其他司法机构，故正确答案为D选项。

错项排除：A、B选项主语一般为人，且语义与此处的语境不符。C选项表示前后的因果关系，行为准则和其他司法机构之间并不存在因果关系，故C选项错误。

长难句分析：At the very least, the court should make itself subject to the code of conduct that applies to the rest of the federal judiciary.

本句为复合句，句子主干是the court should make itself subject to the code of conduct，属于主谓宾宾补结构。At the very least表明上下文的语义转折，that引导的定语从句修饰the code of conduct，是主谓宾结构。

句意为：至少，法院应该遵守联邦其他司法部门的行为准则。