U.S. District Judge Greg Guidry abruptly convened attorneys on a call last week to tell them his charitable giving to the New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese “has been brought to my attention” and he is now considering recusal from the high-profile bankruptcy he oversees in an appellate role, the Associated Press reported. “Naturally,” Judge Guidry told them, “I will take no further action in this case until this question has been resolved.” AP’s review of campaign-finance records found that Guidry, since being nominated to the federal bench in 2019 by then-President Donald Trump, has given nearly $50,000 to local Catholic charities from leftover contributions he received after serving 10 years as a Louisiana Supreme Court justice. Most of that giving, $36,000 of it, came in the months after the archdiocese sought chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2020 amid a crush of sexual abuse lawsuits. That included a $12,000 donation to the archdiocese's Catholic Community Foundation in September 2020 on the same day of a series of filings in the bankruptcy, and a $14,000 donation to the same charity in July of the following year.
