Salon: Bush judge under ethics cloud.

[praxiz]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/01/31/payne2/

Bush judge under ethics cloud.

James H. Payne broke the law by ruling on corporations in which he held financial interests. Now Bush's nominee to the nation's second-highest court has the Senate and a top judge on his case.

By Will Evans

Jan. 31, 2006 | A federal judge nominated by President Bush to one of the nation's highest courts disqualified himself from two cases against a corporation in which he has held personal investments, after a report revealed that his career on the bench has been riddled with conflicts of interest.

On Jan. 23, following the Salon story "Bush Nominee Broke Law," Judge James H. Payne recused himself from two product-liability suits against drug titan Pfizer, which had been assigned to him since November, according to court documents. Payne has reported stock holdings of up to $15,000 in Pfizer since 1999. Federal law and the official Code of Conduct for U.S. judges explicitly prohibit judges from sitting on cases involving companies in which they or members of their immediate family own stock.

Payne was nominated by Bush last fall to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Denver, and is awaiting a confirmation hearing. The chief judge of the 10th Circuit Court and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee staff told Salon they plan to look further into Payne's reported violations of federal law, while senators from the judge's home state have reaffirmed their support of the nominee.

[punpirate]

1. Precisely the same situation with Alito...

... and Vanguard. Alito did not recuse himself in a similar case until a plaintiff demanded he recuse himself for conflict of interest, even after Alito promised, under oath, that he would recuse himself voluntarily from any such cases.

Now, he's going to be a Supreme Court justice....

I wonder how many times he's going to recuse himself from cases in which he bears a conflict of interest, since there's no one higher in the judiciary system to force him to do so. After all, neither Thomas nor Scalia recused themselves from Bush v. Gore for other conflicts of interest.

[Trillo]

2. It seems to be a common pattern. nt

[Benhurst]

4. Payne sounds just like the man for the next vacancy at the

United States Supreme Court.

Send in the clowns.

[xchrom]

3. bush judges, like bush, are good

at breaking the law.

i guess getting enough people to care is the problem.

[rodeodance]

5. it is hard for many to care when they are wondering where the next rent

check is coming from or how to pay bills.