Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5720) to amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to provide for a periodic transaction reporting requirement for Federal judicial officers and the online publication of financial disclosure reports of Federal judicial officers, and for other purposes, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 5720

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act''. SEC. 2. PERIODIC TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ONLINE PUBLICATION OF FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REPORTS OF FEDERAL JUDICIAL OFFICERS.

(a) Periodic Transaction Reporting Requirement for Federal Judicial Officers.--

(1) In general.--Section 103(l) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``(11) Each judicial officer.''.

(2) Effective date.--The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall apply to applicable transactions occurring on or after the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

(b) Online Publication of Financial Disclosure Reports of Federal Judicial Officers.--Section 105 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended--

(1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and

(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:

``(c) Online Publication of Financial Disclosure Reports of Judicial Officers.--

``(1) Establishment of database.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall establish a searchable internet database to enable public access to any report required to be filed by a judicial officer under this title.

``(2) Availability.--Not later than 90 days after the date on which a report is required to be filed under this title by a judicial officer, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall make the report available on the database established under paragraph (1) in a full-text searchable, sortable, and downloadable format for access by the public.

``(3) Redaction.--Any report made available on the database established under paragraph (1) shall not contain any information that is redacted in accordance with subsection (b)(3).''.

(c) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--

(1) Section 103(l) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) (as amended by subsection (a)(1)) is amended--

(A) in paragraph (9), by striking ``, as defined under section 109(12)''; and

(B) in paragraph (10), by striking ``, as defined under section 109(13)''.

(2) Section 105 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) (as amended by subsection (b)) is amended--

(A) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ``be revealing'' and inserting ``by revealing''; and

(B) in subsection (b)--

(i) in paragraph (1)--

(I) in the first sentence, by striking ``be,,'' and inserting ``be,''; and

(II) in the third sentence, by striking ``may be may'' and inserting ``may be, may''; and

(ii) in paragraph (3)(A), by striking ``described in section 109(8) or 109(10) of this Act'' and inserting ``who is a judicial officer or a judicial employee''.

(3) Section 107(a)(1) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App) is amended in the last sentence by striking ``and (d)'' and inserting ``and (e)''.
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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, H.R. 5720, the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act of 2021, embodies an important bipartisan effort to address an alarming lack of transparency in the personal financial holdings of Federal judges and the conflicts--or appearance of conflicts--those holdings can create in the cases those judges are asked to decide.

This legislation makes incremental but necessary progress toward accountability by building on Federal statutes that already prohibit judges from deciding cases in which they have a personal financial stake in the outcome.

It has been the law in this country since the 1970s that judges must recuse themselves from any case in which they hold a legal or equitable interest of any size in any property or party under consideration. To help ensure that recusals occur as required, Federal law also requires judges to file annual reports disclosing their personal financial interests so that litigants, the press, and the general public can check their work.

Unfortunately, recent reporting by prominent media outlets and a hearing by the Courts Subcommitee, have shown that the law is not working as intended. The infrequency of judges' financial disclosures and the inaccessibilty of the reports themselves have made actual transparency practically impossible.

The result is recent investigative reporting revealing that over 130 Federal judges have decided cases in which they are part owners of the parties before them; over 60 judges have actively traded shares in the parties in their courtrooms while cases are still going on, in some cases profiting on those trades.

The consequences of these actions are both acute and widespread. Failures to recuse can cause real harm to the parties whose cases are impacted and can leave a cloud of doubt over any law created from these cases once the conflicts are uncovered. Perhaps even more concerning, when the public sees members of their judiciary behaving in such a manner, their faith in their system of justice can be withered by cynicism and suspicion.

H.R. 5720 addresses these problems by requiring Federal judges to abide by the same periodic transaction reporting laws already applicable to Members of Congress and senior executive branch officials.

Further, the bill requires the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to create an online database of judicial financial disclosure reports and to timely update that database in searchable, sortable, and downloadable copies of disclosure reports as they become available so that litigants, the press, and the public can access and analyze that information in close to real time.

These simple solutions are long overdue and are the product of bipartisan, bicameral collaboration. I want to thank Congresswoman Ross and Congressman Issa for their leadership on this issue and for introducing this legislation. I also appreciate Ranking Member Jordan for working with us on this bill, and I want to thank Hank Johnson, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet for holding a hearing exposing the issues this bill addresses.

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Mr. NADLER. Ross).

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, we have additional speakers. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline), a member of the Judiciary Committee.
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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5720 would make a meaningful difference in the accessibility and transparency of an entire branch of our Federal Government. It would strengthen trust in our courts and, in doing so, would strengthen our courts.

H.R. 5720 would establish a level playing field for access to critical government documents, allowing litigants, the public, and the press to enforce and ensure accountability.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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