Nate Raymond

(Reuters] – The final approval of Congress is expected for a bipartisan bill, which would make it more difficult for federal judges and U.S. Supreme Court justices to reveal their stock and financial holdings.

The House of Representatives will vote on Senate legislation that makes it easier for the public see whether a federal judge has a financial interest that could justify being removed from hearing cases.

House is likely to approve the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act which was approved in February by the Senate. In rare bipartisanship, the Democratic-led Chamber approved in December a slightly modified version of this bill on a 422-4 vote. The bill would then be sent to President Joe Biden, for his signature after passing the House.

The legislation was introduced by the lawmakers in October shortly after the Wall Street Journal revealed that 130 federal judges failed to withdraw from any cases involving stock-holding companies.

“This is just unacceptable,” said Representative Deborah Ross from North Carolina, who was the House sponsor of the House’s version. “The judiciary ought to be subjected to the exact same conditions as the executive and legislative branches.

Public pressure is also mounting on Congress to put controls on its members’ financial transactions, such as banning their ability to buy and sell stocks. However, that effort has not been very successful. Nancy Pelosi (Democratic House Speaker) stated in February that she was expecting a proposal on how to resolve this issue “pretty soon.”

On Wednesday, the House will be hearing legislation despite the efforts of the judiciary not to let the Journal report get in the way of its own polices by strengthening ethics training and adopting new systems to handle disclosure reports. These steps have been criticized by lawmakers as inadequate.

This bill would require federal judges to follow the same disclosure requirements as legislators by creating a 45 day window in which judges must report stock trades exceeding $1,000.

The legislation requires that the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (the administrative arm of the judiciary) create an online searchable database of publicly available financial disclosure forms from judicial courts. This must be done within the first 90 days of the form being submitted.

This bill includes the Supreme Court justices and federal appellate, court district, bankruptcy, and magistrate judges. The bill requires that the database be available online within 180 days after its enactment. However, the judiciary may request extensions.

Although judges are required to file financial disclosure reports annually, litigants and members of the general public can request to see them. Judges will then decide whether any need to be deleted. This process may take several months or even longer.

U.S. Chief justice John Roberts was the highest ranking member of the judiciary. In December’s year-end report, Roberts called recusal slips. The Journal identified isolated and unintentional incidents but stated that the judiciary takes the concern “seriously”.