Justice is BLIND Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3534 To require justices, judges, magistrate judges, or bankruptcy judges and their spouses and dependent children to place certain assets into qualified blind trusts, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 18, 2023 Mr. SCHIFF (for himself, Ms. SPANBERGER, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. NORTON, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. LIEU, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. NICKEL, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. SCANLON, and Mr. GARAMENDI) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require justices, judges, magistrate judges, or bankruptcy judges and their spouses and dependent children to place certain assets into qualified blind trusts, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Justice is Beneficial 4 Limitation on Investments and Necessary Disclosure Act 5 of 2023’’ or as the ‘‘Justice is BLIND Act of 2023’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Jun 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3534.IH H3534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3534 IH SEC. 2. PLACEMENT OF CERTAIN ASSETS OF JUSTICES, 1 JUDGES, MAGISTRATE JUDGES, OR BANK- 2 RUPTCY JUDGES AND THEIR SPOUSES AND 3 DEPENDENT CHILDREN IN BLIND TRUST. 4 Section 455 of title 28, United States Code, is 5 amended— 6 (1) in subsection (c), by inserting the following: 7 ‘‘though such efforts should not include seeking in- 8 formation about the identity of the financial instru- 9 ments contained in any qualified blind trust other 10 than the initial assets of the qualified blind trust es- 11 tablished by a justice, judge, magistrate judge or 12 bankruptcy judge, or the spouse or dependent child 13 of such justice, judge, magistrate judge, or bank- 14 ruptcy judge, to comply with subsection (g)’’ before 15 the period at the end; and 16 (2) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(g) PLACEMENT OF CERTAIN ASSETS OF JUSTICES, 18 JUDGES, MAGISTRATE JUDGES, OR BANKRUPTCY JUDGES 19 AND THEIR SPOUSES AND DEPENDENT CHILDREN IN 20 QUALIFIED BLIND TRUST.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 22 ‘‘(A) JUSTICE, JUDGE, MAGISTRATE 23 JUDGE, OR BANKRUPTCY JUDGE OCCUPYING 24 OFFICE ON DATE OF ENACTMENT.—Not later 25 than 90 days after the effective date of this 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Jun 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3534.IH H3534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3534 IH subsection, a justice, judge, magistrate judge, 1 or bankruptcy judge and any spouse or depend- 2 ent child of such justice, judge, magistrate 3 judge, or bankruptcy judge shall place any cov- 4 ered financial interest of such justice, judge, 5 magistrate judge, or bankruptcy judge or by 6 any spouse or dependent child of such justice, 7 judge, magistrate judge, or bankruptcy judge, 8 into a qualified blind trust. 9 ‘‘(B) JUSTICE, JUDGE, MAGISTRATE 10 JUDGE, OR BANKRUPTCY JUDGE ASSUMING OF- 11 FICE AFTER DATE OF ENACTMENT.—Not later 12 than 90 days after the date an individual be- 13 comes a justice, judge, magistrate judge, or 14 bankruptcy judge, such individual and any 15 spouse or dependent child of such individual 16 shall place any covered financial interest of 17 such individual, spouse, or dependent child into 18 a qualified blind trust. 19 ‘‘(C) MINGLING OF ASSETS.—A spouse or 20 dependent child of a justice, judge, magistrate 21 judge, or bankruptcy judge may place a covered 22 financial interest in a qualified blind trust es- 23 tablished by such justice, judge, magistrate 24 judge, or bankruptcy judge under subparagraph 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Jun 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3534.IH H3534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3534 IH (A) or (B). A justice, judge, magistrate judge, 1 or bankruptcy judge may place a covered finan- 2 cial interest in a qualified blind trust estab- 3 lished by the spouse of such justice, judge, 4 magistrate judge, or bankruptcy judge under 5 subparagraph (A) or (B). 6 ‘‘(D) ASSETS UPON SEPARATION.—A jus- 7 tice, judge, magistrate judge, or bankruptcy 8 judge and any spouse or dependent child of 9 such justice, judge, magistrate judge, or bank- 10 ruptcy judge may not dissolve any qualified 11 blind trust in which a covered financial interest 12 has been placed pursuant to subparagraph (A) 13 or (B), or otherwise control such a financial in- 14 terest, until the date that is 180 days after the 15 date such justice, judge, magistrate judge, or 16 bankruptcy judge ceases to be a justice, judge, 17 magistrate judge, or bankruptcy judge. 18 ‘‘(2) ACCOUNTABILITY.— 19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A justice, judge, mag- 20 istrate judge, or bankruptcy judge shall— 21 ‘‘(i) not later than 15 days after the 22 date a qualified blind trust is established 23 under paragraph (1), attest in writing that 24 such trust has been established and that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Jun 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3534.IH H3534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3534 IH any covered financial interest of such jus- 1 tice, judge, magistrate judge, or bank- 2 ruptcy judge or a spouse or dependent 3 child of such justice, judge, magistrate 4 judge, or bankruptcy judge has been 5 placed in such trust; or 6 ‘‘(ii) attest in writing that neither 7 such justice, judge, magistrate judge, or 8 bankruptcy judge nor a spouse or depend- 9 ent child of such justice, judge, magistrate 10 judge, or bankruptcy judge have any finan- 11 cial interests. 12 ‘‘(B) REPORT.—The Administrative Office 13 of the United States Courts shall make avail- 14 able on the searchable internet database estab- 15 lished under section 105(c) of the Ethics in 16 Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. 13107(c)) 17 any attestation made under subparagraph (A). 18 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—A spouse or dependent child 19 who receives compensation from their primary occu- 20 pation through any covered financial interest shall 21 not be required to place such covered financial inter- 22 est in a qualified blind trust under this subsection. 23 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Jun 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3534.IH H3534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3534 IH ‘‘(A) COMMODITY.—The term ‘commodity’ 1 has the meaning given the term in section 1a 2 of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1a). 3 ‘‘(B) COVERED FINANCIAL INTEREST.— 4 The term ‘covered financial interest’— 5 ‘‘(i) means a financial interest in a se- 6 curity, a commodity, or a future, or any 7 comparable economic interest acquired 8 through synthetic means such as the use of 9 a derivative; and 10 ‘‘(ii) does not include— 11 ‘‘(I) a widely held investment 12 fund described in section 13104(f)(8) 13 of title 5 that is diversified and reg- 14 istered as a management company 15 under the Investment Company Act of 16 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a–1 et seq.); or 17 ‘‘(II) a United States Treasury 18 bill, note, or bond. 19 ‘‘(C) DEPENDENT CHILD.—The term ‘de- 20 pendent child’ has the meaning given that term 21 in section 13101 of title 5. 22 ‘‘(D) QUALIFIED BLIND TRUST.—The 23 term ‘qualified blind trust’ has the meaning 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:44 Jun 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3534.IH H3534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3534 IH given that term in section 13104(f)(3) of title 1 5. 2 ‘‘(5) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this 3 subsection or the application of such provision to 4 any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitu- 5 tional, the remainder of this subsection and the ap- 6 plication of the remaining provisions of this sub- 7 section to any person or circumstance, shall not be 8 affected.’’. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Jun 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3534.IH H3534 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB