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House Bill 5720
117th Congress(2021-2022)
Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act
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Passed House on Dec 1, 2021
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H. R. 5720 (Introduced-in-House)


117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5720


To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to provide for a periodic transaction reporting requirement for Federal judicial officers and the online publication of financial disclosure reports of Federal judicial officers, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

October 25, 2021

Ms. Ross (for herself, Mr. Issa, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Nadler, and Mr. Roy) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to provide for a periodic transaction reporting requirement for Federal judicial officers and the online publication of financial disclosure reports of Federal judicial officers, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the “Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act of 2021”.

SEC. 2. Findings.

Congress finds that—

(1) recent reports indicate certain Federal judges have failed to recuse themselves from cases and controversies in which the financial interests of the Federal judges are implicated;

(2) Federal law and the judicial recusal rules applicable to Federal judges require that Federal judges disqualify themselves in any proceeding in which the impartiality of the Federal judges might be reasonably questioned, including instances in which a Federal judge has any financial interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding;

(3) litigants and the public have an interest in fair and impartial judicial proceedings, the results and conduct of which avoid any appearance of impropriety; and

(4) in 2012, the STOCK Act (Public Law 112–105; 126 Stat. 291) was enacted, which provides that Members of Congress and Federal officials have a duty of trust and confidentiality to not use information obtained from their official duties for private gain, including the purchase and sale of stocks, bonds, commodities, futures, and other securities.

SEC. 3. Periodic transaction reports and online publication of financial disclosure reports of Federal judicial officers.

(a) Periodic transaction reporting requirement for Federal judicial officers.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 103(l) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(11) Each judicial officer.”.

(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall apply to applicable transactions occurring on or after the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

(b) Online publication of financial disclosure reports of Federal judicial officers.—Section 105 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended—

(1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and

(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:

“(c) Online publication of financial disclosure reports of judicial officers.—

“(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF DATABASE.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act of 2021, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall establish a searchable internet database to enable public access to any report required to be filed by a judicial officer under this title.

“(2) AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 90 days after the date on which a report is required to be filed under this title by a judicial officer, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall make the report available on the database established under paragraph (1) in a full-text searchable, sortable, and downloadable format for access by the public.

“(3) REDACTION.—Any report made available on the database established under paragraph (1) shall not contain any information that is redacted in accordance with subsection (b)(3).”.

(c) Technical and conforming amendments.—

(1) Section 103(l) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) (as amended by subsection (a)(1)) is amended—

(A) in paragraph (9), by striking “, as defined under section 109(12)”; and

(B) in paragraph (10), by striking “, as defined under section 109(13)”.

(2) Section 105 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) (as amended by subsection (b)) is amended—

(A) in subsection (a)(1), by striking “be revealing” and inserting “by revealing”; and

(B) in subsection (b)—

(i) in paragraph (1)—

(I) in the first sentence, by striking “be,,” and inserting “be,”; and

(II) in the third sentence, by striking “may be may” and inserting “may be, may”; and

(ii) in paragraph (3)(A), by striking “described in section 109(8) or 109(10) of this Act” and inserting “who is a judicial officer or a judicial employee”.

(3) Section 107(a)(1) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App) is amended in the last sentence by striking “and (d)” and inserting “and (e)”.