Another Round of Golf, Your Honor?
By
Chris Vogel
Members of Congress aren’t the only Washingtonians heading out on junkets.
When it comes to jetting off to golf resorts and dude ranches on big-business funds, federal judges are racking up the frequent-flyer miles. According to the Washington watchdog group Community Rights Counsel, the DC Circuit ranks highest in the number of all-expenses-paid junkets taken by judges. ExxonMobil, Philip Morris, and RJ Reynolds are paying for many of the trips, during which corporate-paid experts teach judges about evolving legal issues. Though the junkets—to spots like London, Santa Fe, and ranches in Montana—are legal, CRC director Doug Kendall says the practice is questionable as they’re funded by companies with a “direct interest” in case outcomes. The organizations that run most of the junkets are Montana’s Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE) and George Mason University’s Law and Economic Center (LEC). Both have insisted that corporate cash does not go to reimburse the judges and that the seminars are academic endeavors, not playtime. One federal judge attending an LEC junket reported the seminar’s value at $7,367. CRC esti mates that FREE spends about $10,000 on each judge per junket. Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the DC Court of Appeals ranked first nationwide in junkets taken, according to CRC. Second is Judge Loren A. Smith of the US Court of Federal Claims. In the fifth spot is Judge Pauline Newman of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. Kendall says junketeers target judges on DC’s big three courts—the DC Circuit, the Federal Circuit, and the Court of Federal Claims—because they have exclusive authority to hear cases involving issues critical to corporate America. In 2002, Ginsburg attended a six-day visit to Yellowstone National Park sponsored by FREE, which receives funding from companies with an interest in limiting clean-air regulation. Last fall Ginsburg was one of several judges who voted to uphold the Environmental Protection Agency’s refusal to regulate pollution under the Clean Air Act. There may have been no connection between the court decision and Ginsburg’s all-expenses-paid trip, but Kendall says it still stinks. “The judiciary, more than any other branch of government, is supposed to be truly independent and unblemished by the stain of influence peddling,” he says. Newman thinks the junkets serve a valuable purpose. “I find them edifying and intellectually satisfying, and I think more rather than fewer judges should attend,” she explains. “I do believe that judges are stepping back from participating in educational opportunities that they would be better off participating in.” The issue is coming under scrutiny in the Senate, where a bill would require full disclosure of who pays for junkets and would ban corporations from underwriting judges’ expenses. Chief Justice John Roberts also is leading an ethics task force that may ground some of the junkets for all federal judges.
|
|
Honoring local heroes whose good works and generous spirits make Washington a great place to live and work
more
A suicide bomber in Afghanistan killed seven of the CIA’s own, including one of its best terrorist trackers. New details about Jennifer Matthews—and her secretive life—provide an inside look at a bloody and unfinished war.
more
Tevi Troy shares his tale of a career first.
more
A look back on AIDS through the years, from its first report in 1981 to the creation of DC's commission to combat AIDS in 2011
more
The national "open carry" movement, in which gun owners openly—and legally—carry guns in public, began in Virginia a decade ago. Meet three women who aren't bashful about it.
more
Sold for $1, the venerable weekly is about to become one of Tina Brown's media spectacles.
more
For 39 years, The Washingtonian has honored those who bring help and hope to the neediest among us, give at-risk children a fighting chance, enrich our educational and cultural lives, and make Washington a better place for all of us.
more
Prosecutors in DC have the toughest caseload in the country. But working here is also the best training ground for young lawyers—if they can handle the pressure. These are their stories.
more
Woo at the Zoo, the opening of “Genesis Robot” at Synetic Theater, and the Washington DC International Wine & Food Festival.
more
Our recommendations for the best in live music over the next seven days.
more
|