{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://ross.house.gov/2021/12/ross-issa-bipartisan-legislation-enhance-judicial-disclosure-and-transparency", "Ross, Issa Bipartisan Legislation to Enhance Judicial Disclosure and Transparency Requirement Passes House", "2021-12-01", "2021", "2021-12", "Democrat", "House", "NC", "Deborah K. Ross", "R000305", "ross.house.gov", "ross", "https://ross.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Congresswoman Deborah Ross\u2019 (NC-02) legislation, the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act, passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Introduced by Representatives Ross, Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Chip Roy (R-Texas), and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the legislation will require online publication of financial disclosure reports for federal judges and mandate that federal judges submit periodic transaction reports for certain securities transactions. Following reporting in the Wall Street Journal that more than 130 federal judges heard cases in which they or their families held stock in a company involved in the case, this legislation will strengthen judicial ethics and transparency and restore trust in the nation\u2019s courts.\n\n\u201cEvery American needs to have faith that our courts will carry out fair, impartial justice,\u201d said Congresswoman Ross. \u201cThe Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act will increase transparency, accountability, and trust in the American promise of blind justice. Recent reporting has exposed deep flaws in our judicial ethics and recusal laws that we have a duty to remedy. This bill will ensure that federal judges face the same financial transaction disclosure requirements as members of the legislative and executive branches of government, eliminating an unwarranted double standard. I\u2019m glad we accomplished this in a bipartisan way and look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to ensure this legislation is enacted.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo part of our foundation of law and order can succeed without the considered, continuous and constant work of judges \u2013 and that\u2019s why an impartial and evenhanded judiciary is imperative,\u201d said Rep. Issa. \u201cUnder the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act, we will equalize the accountability of our third branch of government to the same standard of elected officials \u2013 and to the benefit of our system of justice.\u201d\n\n\u201cTransparency and ethics are vital to the integrity of the judiciary and maintaining the public\u2019s trust in our courts; however, recent reporting has shown that our federal judiciary has operated with much secrecy and minimal accountability for far too long,\u201d said Chairman Nadler. \u201cI am very proud that the House came together to address this issue by passing the bipartisan Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act, which makes incremental but necessary progress toward accountability by building on federal statutes that prohibit judges from deciding cases in which they have a personal financial stake in the outcome. The simple, long-overdue solutions included in this bill will bring necessary transparency to our nation's courts, and will help ensure judges remain impartial and cases are decided fairly. I thank Representative Deborah Ross for her leadership on this important issue and for her work in bringing this legislation one step closer to becoming law.\u201d\n\n\u201cThanks to thorough reporting by The Wall Street Journal and the quick work of our Courts Subcommittee, we know that several federal judges have fallen short of their conflict-of-interest obligations,\u201d said Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04), chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet. \u201cThey\u2019ve broken the public\u2019s trust. By passing our bipartisan, bicameral bill, we can give the judiciary the tools it clearly needs to enhance accountability and transparency and to begin to restore the public\u2019s faith in the integrity of our courts.\u201d\n\n\u201cTrust in our judicial system demands clear impartiality of the judges,\u201d said Congressman Roy. \u201cThe Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act is a great step in providing parity to the Judiciary and putting Judges on par with the Executive and Legislative branch\u2019s public financial disclosure rules. I\u2019m proud to have worked with a bipartisan group of Senators and House Members on this legislation and I encourage my colleagues to support this bill.\u201d\n\nCongresswoman Ross spoke on the House floor in support of her legislation here.\n\nSenate companion legislation was introduced by U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), John Kennedy (R-La.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), along with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).\n\nBackground:\n\nThe Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act would require that federal judges\u2019 financial disclosure reports be made publicly available online, and require federal judges to submit periodic transaction reports of securities transactions in line with other federal officials under the STOCK Act. The bill would amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to:\n\nRequire the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to create a searchable online database of judicial financial disclosure forms and post those forms within 90 days of being filed, and\n\nSubject federal judges to the STOCK Act\u2019s requirement of filing periodic transaction reports within 45 days of securities transactions over $1,000.\n\nImportantly, the bill also preserves the existing ability of judges to request redactions of personal information on financial disclosure reports due to a security concern.\n\nUnder current ethics guidelines and federal law, federal judges are prohibited from hearing cases that involve a party in which they, their spouse, or their minor children have a financial interest. Federal judges are instead required to disqualify themselves in any proceeding in which their impartiality may be questioned. Despite this, a Wall Street Journal investigation found that between 2010 and 2018, more than 130 federal judges failed to recuse themselves in nearly 700 cases in which they or an immediate family member held stock in a company involved in the case.\n\nWhile federal judges are required to submit financial disclosure reports, current law does not provide sufficient transparency for litigants to research whether a judge has a conflict of interest. The current process for obtaining judicial financial disclosure forms can be cumbersome and take months or even years. By contrast, financial disclosure reports for the President, Members of Congress, and Presidential-appointed and Senate-confirmed officials are readily-available and searchable online.\n\nBy providing litigants with real-time access to judges\u2019 financial disclosures and securities transactions, the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act would help preserve the integrity of judicial proceedings, ensure judges recuse themselves when there\u2019s a potential conflict of interest, and provide litigants and the public with greater confidence in the judicial system.\n\nBill text can be found here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://ross.house.gov/2021/12/ross-issa-bipartisan-legislation-enhance-judicial-disclosure-and-transparency"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.154395915567875, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}