|
WASHINGTON - One of four federal judges serving on the board
of a group that runs corporate-sponsored junkets for federal
judges has resigned, according to a document released today
by Community Rights Counsel (CRC). This is the first time
a petition has led to a judge quitting the widely criticized
junketing program's board.
The resignation comes in response to an ethics petition
filed last year by CRC, which has led the effort to expose
the extent of corporate-funded junkets for federal judges
and the conflicts of interest they can create. Maryland-based
US District Judge Andre Davis's resignation from the board
of the Montana-based Foundation for Research on Economics
and the Environment (FREE) is documented in this order,
written by Chief Judge William Wilkins of the Fourth Circuit
Court of Appeals. Chief Judge Wilkins dismisses CRC's petition
because the action sought in its petition - Judge Davis's
resignation from FREE's Board - has now taken place.
CRC Executive Director Doug Kendall said, "While it
was never a good idea for judges to serve on the board of
a group that takes money from interested parties and uses
it to take them and their colleagues on expense paid trips,
Judge Davis had the sense to make a bad situation right. It's
time for the other three judges to follow suit, then support
a ban on these troublesome junkets altogether."
A CRC investigation
last year showed startling evidence that FREE had manipulated
its board membership and program schedules in an attempt to
influence the outcome of pending federal cases in which corporate
sponsors had a stake. Based on the evidence collected in this
report, Tainted
Justice: How Private Judicial Trips Undermine Public Trust
in the Federal Judiciary, CRC filed ethics petitions
against Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg of the DC Circuit, Chief
Judge Danny Boggs of the Sixth Circuit, Judge Jane Roth of
the Third Circuit, and Judge Davis. Nearly fourteen months
after their filing, these remaining petitions still await
resolution.
###
For a copy of an ethics petition filed against
Judge Andre Davis, click
here (PDF).
For a copy of the ethics petition against Chief Judge Doug
Ginsburg, click
here (PDF).
For a copy of an ethics petition filed against Judge Danny
Boggs, click
here (PDF).
For a copy of an ethics petition filed against Judge Jane
Roth, click
here (PDF).
Read the confidential
order, released May 5, 2005, documenting Judge Andre Davis'
resignation from FREE's board (PDF)
Read letters
from the 6th Circuit and the DC Circuit, transferring our
petitions against Judges Boggs and Ginsburg to Judge James
B. Loken, Chief Judge of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals
(PDF).
Read the media coverage of Davis' resignation
- The Washington
Post,
May 6, 2005
Since then, both Roth and Ginsburg have resigned as well.
Read The Washington
Post, Bozeman
Daily Chronicle, and Delaware
News Journal on their resignations. Read David Hawpe's
May 11, 2005 column
in the Louisville Courier-Journal on Judge Danny
Boggs.
Read
CRC's groundbreaking report, Tainted Justice: How Private
Judicial Trips Undermine Public Trust in the Federal Judiciary
|
