Study: Conflict Disclosure For State High Court Judges Woefully Inadequate

Inadequate financial disclosure requirements in most states, combined with the increase of special-interest money in judicial campaigns, may be leading to conflicted judges sitting in top positions across the country, a report released by the Center for Public Integrity concludes. The investigation into three years of filings found that many judges failed to recuse themselves when financial conflicts of interest were present. Some judges authored opinions in favor of companies for which they owned stocks, and others ruled in cases when their family members were employed by one of the parties involved. Still others accepted lavish gifts, including in one case a $50,000 trip to Italy. The cases noted may  represent the tip of the iceberg, given that a major finding is that disclosure requirements for state judicial candidates range from poor to practically non-existent.