Courts

Supreme Court Justices Aren't The Only Ones Failing To Report Lavish Trips

We really should borrow from NASCAR and force judges to wear the companies that support them on their robes.

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money briefcaseTrickle down might not work for economics, but it definitely works for abuses of authority. A subtext of the reporting that covered Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito’s skirting of disclosure rules was the notion that they were only able to get away with it because the Supreme Court didn’t have an enforceable code of ethics. That framing was a little too hopeful — it turns out that several other federal judges have skirted their obligations to report gifts. NPR has coverage:

Dozens of federal judges failed to fully disclose free luxury travel to judicial conferences around the world, as required by internal judiciary rules and federal ethics law, an NPR investigation has found. As a result, the public remained in the dark about potential conflicts of interest for some of the United States’ top legal officials.

Federal judges — occasionally with family members or even their dog in tow — traveled to luxury resorts in locations as far-flung as London; Palm Beach, Fla.; Bar Harbor, Maine; and the outskirts of Yellowstone National Park for weeklong seminars. The judges received free rooms, free meals and free money toward travel expenses, together worth a few thousand dollars.

Receiving a couple thousand dollars in value is paltry compared to Alito’s six-figure fishing trips or Clarence’s millions of under-the-table cash, but the difference is in degree, not in kind. These federal judges’ failure to disclose poses the same lack of regard for even the appearance of impropriety as a standard that judges in positions of power hold themselves to. NPR’s ProPublica-ing unearthed more information:

In nearly 40 instances, judges attended events at luxury resorts but failed to properly file a report within 30 days. In fact, the forms were uploaded months or even years late and only after NPR began asking questions.

In 13 cases, NPR found that judges failed to declare the benefits they received on their annual financial disclosure forms.
…
“That information loses most of its value if it’s a year and a half later,” said Kedric Payne, the senior director of ethics at the nonprofit watchdog Campaign Legal Center. “It’s just too distant from the potential conflict of interest.”

Between failing to disclose trips and hearing cases that they have a financial interest in, it might be time to start making bad apple arguments against the judiciary. And for posterity’s sake, the adage goes “one bad apple can spoil the barrel.” Black robes lose a lot of their significance if even judges won’t follow the rules.

When Judges Get Free Trips To Luxury Resorts, Disclosure Is Spotty [NPR]

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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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