Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this important legislation that will bring greater transparency to the judges adjudicating cases every day all across this country. Most high-level government officials in all three branches of government, including Federal Justices and judges, must file annual financial disclosure reports. For Members of Congress, as well the President, Vice President, and other executive branch officials, these disclosures are readily available and searchable online. This makes the information easy for the American people to obtain, and this tool is vital to a transparent government. Federal judges and Justices, however, do not have to make their disclosures readily available to the public online. It often takes the public months to request this information under the current disclosure system. This delay in information often prevents the public from being able to determine if a judge has a financial interest in a certain court case in a timely manner, effectively weakening the enforcement of recusal requirements even if there is a conflict of interest. I am sure many or most judges willingly recuse themselves from cases in which they have an interest, but a Wall Street Journal investigation found that this is not always the case. That investigation found that since 2010, more than 130 Federal judges have not recused themselves in nearly 700 cases where they or a family member had a financial interest, an unacceptable breach of the public's trust.…”