Internet database to show U.S. judges’ finances

Benjamin Grove and Suzanne Struglinski

Monday, Dec. 13, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The two Las Vegas-based judges who sit on the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals own a number of mutual funds with a diverse group of company stocks, according to financial records.

Ninth Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, who was appointed to the bench in March 2003, has a portfolio that includes stocks ranging from Bank of America and Verizon Communications to Exelon and Southern California Edison. Judge Johnnie Rawlinson has two Vanguard fund portfolios that include stock in Dell, Pfizer, eBay, Wells Fargo and Tyco International.

Court rules allow judges to own stocks through mutual funds -- and even to rule in cases involving companies in which they own mutual-fund stock.

But officials with the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch believe there should be more transparency in the financial holdings of judges. To that end the group has begun to assemble an Internet database of the financial disclosure forms that federal judges are required to file with the U.S. Judicial Conference, which makes policy for the federal judiciary.

The documents are public record but have not been available in a central database. It can take an average of three months to obtain a report, according to a 2002 congressional study.

The information will help assure that "the federal judicial process is above reproach," Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said.

Court officials say circuit court judges typically rule in 400 to 450 cases a year. The Ninth Circuit Court has clerk's office staffers who look out for possible conflicts of interest, Court Clerk Cathy Catterson said. Judges typically have their own aides do the same, she said.

Guidelines for judges from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts instruct judges to be vigilant about what stocks they own and to regularly compare their stock lists with court dockets to avoid conflicts of interest.

U.S. Code requires judges to not participate in cases in which they or their spouses or children have financial interests. But a footnote in the judicial guidelines says that judges do not have to recuse themselves from cases involving companies in which they own stocks through mutual funds.

It would be nearly impossible for federal judges to stay out of every case involving a company in which they might have stock, Judicial Watch spokesman Dave Warner said.

But there needs to be more public scrutiny of judges and their financial holdings in general, he said. Judges themselves sometimes redact their stock holdings from forms released to the public for "security reasons," Warner said.

"We can't figure that out," he said. "That's the appearance of impropriety right there. That defines it."

The Sun found four examples in which Rawlinson has ruled in cases involving companies in which she owned stock through mutual funds -- although in three of the four cases she ruled against the company.

In the following examples, Rawlinson was part of a three-member panel that ruled on the case.

Rawlinson reported one expenses-paid trip last year, to Sacramento for a commencement speech at University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law.

According to Bybee's report, he is on a leave of absence from his job with the Boyd School of Law at UNLV.

Bybee reported two weekend trips sponsored by Brigham Young University Law School, one to Salt Lake City in September as an "honored alumni" for a Founder's Day Dinner and one in October to Provo for a speech.

Neither Rawlinson nor Bybee listed "reportable gifts," which are gifts worth $260 or more from any source.

Federal circuit appeals courts are one step below the Supreme Court. The Ninth Circuit Court is the largest of the circuit courts, covering nine western states, including Nevada.