WASHINGTON - Over the last decade, federal courts have become increasingly hostile to environmental protections, while corporations and pro-business special interests have poured millions into lavish, ideologically-slanted seminars for federal judges held at luxury locations.
Today, Community Rights Counsel (CRC) linked these two developments, providing compelling evidence of the corrosive effect of these junkets. CRC's report, "Nothing for Free," revealed:
- In a key endangered species case, the judge upheld habitat protection, attended a seminar, then switched his vote;
- In 10 of the decade's most dramatic departures from established precedent, the judge striking down the environmental protection attended at least one junket;
- In six of these cases, the judge attended a corporate-funded seminar while the case was pending before his or her court; and
- In at least three cases, the judge ruled in favor of a litigant bankrolled by the seminar's sponsors.
"Corporate special interests are attempting to buy judicial influence at the highest levels and it appears to be working," said Doug Kendall, the author of the report. Kendall heads CRC, a public interest law firm that helps local governments defend environmental and community protections.
CRC also posted a web site, www.tripsforjudges.org, that contains the first ever, searchable database showing privately funded trips taken by federal judges from 1992 to 1998.
CRC's work has drawn the notice Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), who has proposed legislation that would ban privately funded judicial education, and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), who issued a statement today condemning the trips. It also has earned CRC the support of environmentalists concerned that the junkets are a form of corporate influence peddling to federal judges.
"Judges don't need free vacations bankrolled by some of America's biggest polluters and lobbying forces, especially given that taxpayers already fund continuing education for judges to the tune of $20 million a year," said Environmental Working Group spokesman Mike Casey. EWG is a watchdog organization that has written to Chief Justice William Rehnquist seeking a ban on the junkets and Internet posting of judges' personal disclosure forms.
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