Chief Justice John Roberts Pledges to Bolster Judicial Ethics

 

Findings that federal judges with financial conflicts improperly ruled in hundreds of cases

Chief Justice John Roberts pledged Friday to improve ethics training and bolster internal compliance systems for the federal judiciary, citing a Wall Street Journal investigation that found hundreds of instances where judges presided over cases involving companies in which they or their relatives held stock.

“Let me be crystal clear: the Judiciary takes this matter seriously. We expect judges to adhere to the highest standards, and those judges violated an ethics rule,” the chief justice said in his year-end report, which traditionally is published on Dec. 31 and includes statistics regarding the federal courts’ caseload.

In addition to presiding over the Supreme Court, the chief justice heads the entire federal judicial system, overseeing it through such bodies as the Judicial Conference, which is the judges’ policy-making arm, and the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts.

The federal judiciary historically has resisted proposals that would extend to judges the disclosure requirements that apply to lawmakers and executive-branch appointees. It has also opposed bills aiming to increase public access to judicial proceedings, such as providing free access to the online Pacer system where federal court filings and decisions are docketed.