A bipartisan bill that would subject U.S. Supreme Court justices and federal judges to tougher disclosure requirements for their financial holdings and stock trades is expected to win final congressional approval on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The House of Representatives is set to vote on legislation already passed by the Senate that would make it easier for the public to see if a member of the federal judiciary has a financial conflict of interest that would warrant being recused from hearing a case. The Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act, approved by the Senate in February, is expected to pass in the House. The Democratic-led chamber in December approved a version of the bill with slight differences on a 422-4 vote in a rare show of bipartisanship. After House passage, it would go to President Joe Biden for his signature. Lawmakers introduced the legislation in October soon after the Wall Street Journal reported that more than 130 federal judges had failed to recuse themselves from cases involving companies in which they or their family members owned stock. Congress also faces public pressure to impose controls on financial transactions by its own members, including possibly banning them from buying and selling stocks, though that effort is not very far along. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in February said that she expected a proposal to address that concern "pretty soon."
