How to look up your judge
By Will Evans | CIR Web Exclusive Report | October 31, 2006
When checking on potential financial conflicts, a good place to start is the judge’s investment list. Every federal judge and magistrate judge must submit a report of their financial interests every year to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts in Washington D.C. Filings from the last six years are kept on file there. Apart from annual reports, judges file a nearly identical financial disclosure form when nominated for a judgeship.
Start with his or her financial disclosure forms, which list stock holdings.
Download this request form: http://www.uscourts.gov/forms/AO010a.pdf
Print and fax the completed form to (202) 502-1899 and mail the original to: Office of the Committee on Financial Disclosure, Administrative Office of the United States Courts, Suite 2-301, One Columbus Circle, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20544
You can request up to the last 6 years of filings
The office will take about two weeks before notifying you of how much your request will cost (copies are 20 cents per page). During this time, the judge will be notified who is making the request. Judges also have an opportunity to redact information.
Questions about the request process can be directed to the Committee on Financial Disclosure at (202) 502-1850.
Then compare the financial interests to the parties in cases that have come before the judge.
You can look up cases at the judge’s courthouse, or remotely, by using the online PACER system (Public Access to Court Electronic Records)
Look up the PACER web page for the court you want.
Generally you can search by case number or the name of a party or attorney, but not by the judge’s name. To see if a judge sat on cases involving the companies you are interested in, you must look up each case involving those companies and then check who the judge was.
For questions, contact the PACER Service Center at (800) 676-6856 or (210) 301-6440.
Remember:
The law covers federal judges, not state judges. Ethics rules covering state judges may vary.
Check for subsidiaries of the companies too.
Mutual funds are different: generally a judge who invests in a mutual fund can sit on a case involving the mutual fund company or the stocks in the mutual fund’s portfolio
Courting Influence
By Will Evans | CIR Web Exclusive Report | October 13, 2004
President George W. Bush's nominees to some of the most influential positions on the federal bench during his first term are notable for their close ties to corporate interests, especially the energy and mining industries, according to a new investigation by the Center for Investigative Reporting. Many of the nominees have been appointed to judgeships holding central jurisdiction over litigation affecting these industries.
CIR is making its research available to other journalists and the public at www.CourtingInfluence.net, marking the first time that the financial disclosure statements and Senate confirmation questionnaires of federal judicial nominees have been made freely and easily accessible. CIR's yearlong investigation focuses on the Bush administration's 59 judicial nominees to federal courts of appeals and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which hears major property rights claims and land disputes.
By shedding light on the financial interests and professional alliances of judges, CIR aims to create a more complete picture of the predispositions that may weigh on judges when competing parties come before them on the bench.
Visit the Courting Influence website
http://www.courtinginfluence.net
