TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Paul Burch on Feb 27, 2024

The U.S. Judicial Conference's Committee on Codes of Conduct on Monday revised an earlier advisory opinion to strengthen requirements governing recusals by judges involving parent-subsidiary relationships between companies, reports Reuters. A federal judge who invests in a company or mutual fund that owns a 10% stake of a party in a lawsuit may still have to be recused from presiding over the case, according to a new judicial ethics opinion. The stricter standards come after a 2021 Wall Street Journal report documented over 130 federal judges who failed to recuse themselves from cases involving companies in which they owned stock. The report prompted Congress to pass bipartisan legislation imposing tougher disclosure requirements for U.S. Supreme Court justices and federal judges regarding their financial holdings.