H.R. 9786: Judicial Integrity Act

This bill would expand the federal criminal conflict-of-interest law to cover judicial branch employees and officials, including federal judges and Supreme Court justices. Under current law, 18 U.S.C. Section 208 generally bars certain executive branch officials and employees from taking official action on matters that could affect their own personal financial interests. This bill would add the judicial branch to that rule.

What it would change

• It would make it illegal for officers and employees of the judicial branch to participate in official actions that could affect their own financial interests.
• This would apply to federal judges and Supreme Court justices, as well as other judicial branch officers and employees.
• The bill also lets the Judicial Conference of the United States create regulations exempting certain financial interests if they are considered too small or too remote to matter, so long as those exemptions apply to all judicial branch officers and employees and go through public notice and comment.

How it would work in practice

If enacted, the bill would require judges and other judicial employees to avoid official acts in cases or matters where they have a direct personal financial stake, unless an exception applies. For example, if a judge owned stock in a company involved in a case, the judge could be barred from taking part in decisions affecting that company’s financial interests, subject to any applicable exemption.

Purpose of the bill

The bill is aimed at applying a formal conflict-of-interest rule to the judicial branch, so that judges and judicial employees are held to a standard similar to that already used for many executive branch officials when it comes to personal financial interests.

Relevant Companies

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