Changes Proposed in Gift Rules for Judges (AKA The Cheney/Scalia Overhaul)

[Khephra]

WASHINGTON -- A commission that writes ethics rules for judges has recommended new restrictions, including a $50 limit for some gifts and a requirement that judges disclose free trips every three months.

The American Bar Association panel, which is overhauling the ethics rules for the first time in 15 years, also proposed a new standard for judges to decide whether it's appropriate to take an expenses-paid trip: Trips that would "cast reasonable doubt" on a judge's impartiality would be unacceptable.

Critics wanted more stringent rules.

"The commission could just as well have said, `Go and enjoy yourself and don't worry about a thing,"' Stephen Gillers, an ethics expert at New York University's School of Law, said Wednesday. "Rarely will any judge believe that anyone could ever reasonably doubt his or her impartiality after going on one -- or many -- of these trips."

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-judges-ethics,0,1443474.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[KT2000]

1. You bet we want more stringent rules

Here is a good site to find out if a judge has been wined and dined and by whom:

"Corporate special interests are wining and dining judges at fancy resorts under the pretext of "educating" them about complicated legal issues. Nothing for FREE, a July 2000 report by Community Rights Counsel (CRC), showed that these junkets appear to be working as their sponsors intend, encouraging rulings that strike down environmental protections and line the pockets of junket sponsors. CRC's most recent report, Tainted Justice, released in March 2004, expands on Nothing for FREE."

http://www.tripsforjudges.org