Courts

Federal Judge's Ethical Lapse In 100+ Cases

That's... a LOT of cases.

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Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the Eastern District of Texas is the subject of a Wall Street Journal exposé that revealed he failed to recuse himself in 138 cases between 2011 and 2018 that involved parties in which he or his wife had a financial interest.

Gilstrap acknowledged in court notices that he may have violated the law requiring recusal:

Federal law requires judges to disqualify themselves from cases if they, their spouse or minor children hold a financial interest in a plaintiff or defendant, including the interest of a beneficiary in assets held by a trust. The law requires a judge to disqualify when holding an equitable interest in a plaintiff or defendant, however small.

Each of the clerk’s notices said the stock ownership by him or his wife’s trust “neither affected nor impacted Chief Judge Gilstrap’s decisions, if he in fact made any decisions, in this case.” Parties who received the notices can ask the court to reopen their cases and have them heard by a new judge.

Gilstrap has reportedly said he did not believe he had to recuse himself in cases where he took little substantive action or if the financial interest was in a trust created for his wife.

The Eastern District of Texas is considered friendly to patent plaintiffs, and, accordingly, Gilstrap hears a high percentage of patent infringement cases. As the WSJ reports, these ethics revelations could have a pretty big impact, “His disqualification notices could throw the docket of the small Texas courthouse into disarray, according to legal ethics and patent experts.”

But Gilstrap isn’t the only one who been lax in their recusal obligations. The Wall Street Journal found 131 federal judges also failed to recuse themselves, though Gilstrap — by far — had the most violations (judge #2 comes in with 54 violations). Since the Journal’s reporting, recusal violations have been noted in 509 cases. That’s a big problem, as Fix the Court’s Gabe Roth noted: “This investigation should send a shudder through anyone who finds him or herself before a federal judge right now. If we can’t trust our judges to be impartial, we’re in a bad place as a nation of laws.”

Seems like it’s well past the time to do something about the problem.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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