The issue of federal judges failing to take accountability for lapses in their financial disclosures is highlighted by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s admission of inadvertently not reporting two decades of his wife’s employment.
Judges, including those in trial courts, are mandated by law to annually disclose their and their spouses’ financial interests to avoid conflicts of interest, with strict recusal required in cases where any financial stake in the proceedings exists.
In 2021, an investigation by the Wall Street Journal uncovered that 152 federal judges neglected to recuse themselves from over 1,000 cases involving companies they had investments in. One notable instance was Judge Lewis Liman of the Southern District of New York, who handled a major antitrust lawsuit against Bank of America, a company in which his wife owned stock, without disclosing this conflict or recusing himself.
Despite ruling in favor of Bank of America, it was later revealed that Liman was aware of this financial interest well before issuing his decision but only acknowledged the oversight after the Wall Street Journal’s queries prompted a late disclosure, which was misleadingly framed as a newfound realization.
Liman’s oversight and belated acknowledgment necessitated additional efforts from litigants and an appellate court, which eventually ruled that any financial conflict, regardless of its size, mandates disqualification. The case was reassigned to a new judge, and Liman’s attempt to clarify through a follow-up letter stating his wife’s divestment from Bank of America shares was dismissed as irrelevant by the appellate court.
Attempts to seek clarification from Liman were met with refusal to comment, a response at odds with judicial conduct codes permitting explanations of court procedures. This disparity between Liman’s actions and the expectations of judicial transparency underscores a broader issue of lax attitudes towards necessary disclosure and recusal within the judiciary, evident in the behavior of not only Liman but also higher echelons like Justices Thomas and Alito.
