S. 5032: Justice is Beneficial Limitation on Investments and Necessary Disclosure Act of 2026

This bill would require federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, bankruptcy judges, and magistrate judges, to move certain financial holdings into qualified blind trusts. It would also apply to their spouses and dependent children.

What assets would be affected

The bill covers “covered financial interests,” which include:

• Stocks and other securities
• Commodities
• Futures
• Comparable interests held through derivatives or similar financial instruments

It would not treat these as covered interests if they are:

• Diversified, widely held investment funds that meet certain federal requirements
• U.S. Treasury bills, notes, or bonds
• Compensation earned by a spouse or dependent child from their employer

What judges would have to do

For judges already serving when the law takes effect, the bill would give them 90 days to place any covered financial interests into a qualified blind trust. For judges appointed later, the same 90-day deadline would start when they are sworn in.

The bill would also let a judge’s spouse or dependent child place covered assets into a trust set up by the judge, and vice versa.

Once assets are placed in one of these trusts, the judge and family members could not dissolve the trust or otherwise control those assets until 180 days after the judge leaves office.

Disclosure and reporting

Each judge would have to file a written attestation within 15 days after establishing the trust, confirming either:

• that the trust has been established and the covered assets were placed into it, or
• that the judge and covered family members do not have any covered financial interests

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts would have to post these attestations in the existing searchable online database used for certain judicial disclosures.

Other provisions

The bill says that, when judges are making the required “reasonable effort” to determine what assets need to be disclosed or moved, they do not have to try to find out the specific holdings inside a qualified blind trust beyond the trust’s initial assets.

It also includes a severability clause, meaning that if one part of the law is found unconstitutional, the rest would remain in effect.

Relevant Companies

None found