I also created a branch and pull request on GitHub for this, in case folks find that...
I also created a Python issue (and patch) for this: http://bugs.python.org/issue23063...
After some discussion on the mailing list with David Goodger, I am revising this...
Attaching bug_270.patch, a patch to docutils that fixes this issue ...
Attaching bug_270.patch ...
`python setup.py check --restructuredtext --strict --metadata` fails with `warning: check: Could not finish the parsing.` if the RST document uses `code` or `code-block` directives.