Federal judges would be required to report stock trades over $1,000 within 45 days and post their financial-disclosure forms online under legislation proposed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives, the Wall Street Journal reported. The two bills were drafted by both Democrats and Republicans in response to a Wall Street Journal investigation finding 131 federal judges violated federal law by hearing lawsuits involving companies in which they reported owning stock, according to congressional aides. The House Judiciary Committee also is considering a range of new accountability rules for the judiciary. It has scheduled a hearing Tuesday to examine “breaches identified in The Wall Street Journal’s report” about federal judges who hold stocks, and will question the chairwoman of the federal judiciary’s ethics committee and judicial ethics professors. Narrower bills in the House and Senate increase reporting requirements for judges who trade stocks frequently. The Journal investigation found 61 judges who didn’t just own stocks of companies that were litigants in their courtrooms. Accounts held by the judges or their families traded shares as suits were progressing. The Senate version of the stock-trading reporting bill, called the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act, would require judges to comply with the same law that applies to the president, vice president, presidential-appointed administration officials, senators and House members, according to congressional aides and a draft of the bill. That law, known as the STOCK Act — for Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge — requires government officials to report their financial transactions over $1,000 within 45 days.
