Congressional Hearing
Addresses Judges' Junkets
At an oversight hearing in of the House Judiciary
Committee's Courts and Intellectual Property
Subcommittee, Representatives
Zoe Lofgren (D-California) and Barney
Frank (D-Massachusetts) raised serious concerns about
the educational seminars that property rights groups are
hosting for federal judges.
Rep. Lofgren gave voice to her opposition to the
seminars. She commented that she was "extremely
concerned" by the Washington
Post story, which noted that large numbers of
federal judges had attended property rights seminars
funded by the same corporations and foundations that are
bankrolling property rights cases. She said it was
"totally, totally inappropriate" for judges to
be accepting freebie trips and commented that attendance
at these seminars "very clearly raises at least the
appearance of impropriety." She remarked:
"There is nothing more
damaging to our citizens' faith in the country and in
the due process of law than the belief, even if
inaccurate, that those who are trusted to judge have
been influenced by financial connections."
Rep. Lofgren called for the U.S.
Courts Administrative Office's "immediate
attention" to the issue of the seminars and
requested that the Administrative Office "provide
guidance" to ensure judges know they cannot attend
seminars that raise an appearance of a conflict of
interests. She noted that the California
Supreme Court had prohibited state judges from attending
educational seminars funded by private interest groups,
and suggested a similar rule be adopted for the federal
judiciary.
Rep. Frank, the subcommittee's ranking minority
member, added that he was concerned with "a problem
of ex parte impact" and requested that "a
provision in the canons" be included to ensure
judges seek out a "balanced view" on critical
issues. He also commented that ideally judges would
receive any necessary education from the Federal Judicial Center.
To this comment, Judge Rya Zobel, Director of the Federal
Judicial Center, agreed and noted that the Federal
Judicial Center "offers a program on environmental
law at Lewis & Clark University Law School"
about which the "primary complaint is that we work
the judges too hard."
In response to the concerns raised at the hearing and
in the media, Judge William Terrell Hodges, Chairman of
the Judicial
Conference, the self-governing body overseeing the
federal judiciary, agreed to bring the members' concerns
to the attention of the Judicial Conference's Committee
on Codes and Conduct, which would examine whether
additional guidance on the subject of the educational
seminars was necessary. |
