Judicial Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1908 To establish judicial ethics. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 8, 2023 Ms. WARREN (for herself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. SMITH, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. PADILLA, and Mr. CARDIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To establish judicial ethics. 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 ‘‘Judicial Ethics and 4 Anti-Corruption Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST RULES FOR JUDGES AND 6 JUSTICES AND NONCONFLICTED FEDERAL 7 EMPLOYEE INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS. 8 (a) REQUIRED DIVESTMENTS OF CONFLICTED AS- 9 SETS.— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1908 IS (1) STOCKS AND SECURITIES.—No judge or 1 justice may own an interest in or trade (except a di- 2 vestment required or approved by the Judicial Con- 3 ference of the United States) any stock, bond, com- 4 modity, future, and other form of security, including 5 an interest in a hedge fund, a derivative, option, or 6 other complex investment vehicle, except noncon- 7 flicted assets allowed under subsection (b). 8 (2) COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE.—No judge or 9 justice may maintain ownership in commercial real 10 estate, unless ownership of such commercial real es- 11 tate is necessary for an entity described in para- 12 graph (4)(C). 13 (3) TRUSTS.— 14 (A) IN GENERAL.—No judge or justice 15 may maintain a financial interest in any trust, 16 including a family trust, if the Judicial Con- 17 ference of the United States determines that 18 the trust includes any— 19 (i) asset that might present a conflict 20 of interest; or 21 (ii) stock, bond, commodity, future, 22 and other form of security, including an in- 23 terest in a hedge fund, a derivative, option, 24 or other complex investment vehicle, except 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1908 IS nonconflicted assets allowed under sub- 1 section (b). 2 (B) EXCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A) shall 3 not apply to a trust described in section 4 13104(f)(2) of title 5, United States Code. 5 (4) BUSINESSES AND COMPANIES.— 6 (A) PRIVATELY OWNED OR CLOSELY HELD 7 CORPORATION.—No judge or justice may main- 8 tain ownership in a privately owned or closely 9 held corporation, company, firm, partnership, or 10 other business enterprise. 11 (B) BOARD MEMBERS.—No judge or jus- 12 tice may serve on the board of directors of any 13 for-profit entity, including any corporation, 14 company, firm, partnership, or other business 15 enterprise. 16 (C) EXCEPTION.—Subparagraphs (A) and 17 (B) shall not apply to a corporation, company, 18 firm, partnership, or other business enterprise 19 that has gross receipts for the previous taxable 20 year of less than $5,000,000. 21 (b) NONCONFLICTED ASSETS.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—A judge or justice may 23 maintain assets that do not present a conflict of in- 24 terest, including— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1908 IS (A) a widely held investment fund— 1 (i) described in section 13104(f)(8) of 2 title 5, United States Code; 3 (ii) that meets the requirements de- 4 scribed in paragraph (2); and 5 (iii) that is diversified because the 6 fund does not have a stated policy of con- 7 centrating the investments of the fund in 8 any industry, business, single country 9 other than the United States, or bonds of 10 any single State; 11 (B) noncommercial real estate, including 12 real estate used solely as a personal residence; 13 (C) cash, certificates of deposit, or other 14 forms of savings accounts; 15 (D) a federally managed asset, including— 16 (i) financial interests in or income de- 17 rived from— 18 (I) any retirement system under 19 title 5, United States Code (including 20 the Thrift Savings Plan under sub- 21 chapter III of chapter 84 of such 22 title); or 23 (II) any other retirement system 24 maintained by the United States for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1908 IS officers or employees of the United 1 States, including the President, or for 2 members of the uniformed services; 3 (ii) benefits received under the Social 4 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.); and 5 (iii) an asset in the Federal Employee 6 Investment Account described in para- 7 graph (3); 8 (E) bonds, bills, and notes issued by gov- 9 ernmental sources, such as the Federal Govern- 10 ment, State, or other municipality; 11 (F) shares of Settlement Common Stock 12 issued under section 7(g)(1)(A) of the Alaska 13 Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 14 1606(g)(1)(A)); and 15 (G) shares of Settlement Common Stock, 16 as defined in section 3 of the Alaska Native 17 Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602). 18 (2) WIDELY HELD INVESTMENT FUND RE- 19 QUIREMENTS.—A judge or justice may not maintain 20 a widely held investment fund described in section 21 13104(f)(8) of title 5, United States Code, unless— 22 (A) the widely held investment fund is— 23 (i) diversified, as described in para- 24 graph (1)(A)(iii); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1908 IS (ii) registered as a management com- 1 pany under the Investment Company Act 2 of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a–1 et seq.); 3 (B) the widely held investment fund does 4 not present a conflict of interest; and 5 (C) any instructions to a manager of the 6 widely held investment fund are shared with the 7 Judicial Conference of the United States. 8 (3) FEDERAL EMPLOYEE INVESTMENT AC- 9 COUNT.—Section 8472 of title 5, United States 10 Code, is amended— 11 (A) in subsection (f)— 12 (i) in paragraph (2), by striking 13 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 14 (ii) in paragraph (3), by striking the 15 period at the end and inserting a semi- 16 colon; and 17 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 18 lowing: 19 ‘‘(4) not later than 3 years after the date of en- 20 actment of this paragraph, establish Federal Em- 21 ployee Investment Accounts in the Treasury of the 22 United States accounts for judges and justices to 23 maintain investments in the stock and securities 24 markets in which a judge or justice may— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1908 IS ‘‘(A) sell an asset or security, including 1 those assets or securities that present a conflict 2 of interest under section 2(a) of the Judicial 3 Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act of 2023, and 4 invest the resulting funds into the Federal Em- 5 ployee Investment Accounts; and 6 ‘‘(B) withdraw funds from their Federal 7 Employee Investment Account at any time; 8 ‘‘(5) act in the interest of the plan participants 9 and beneficiaries of Federal Employee Investment 10 Accounts when making decisions for the purpose of 11 providing benefits to those participants and bene- 12 ficiaries; 13 ‘‘(6) establish a new and parallel system for 14 recordkeeping with respect to Federal Employee In- 15 vestment Accounts; and 16 ‘‘(7) establish a Federal Employee Investment 17 Fund to fully cover administrative costs associated 18 with managing Federal Employee Investment Ac- 19 counts, which— 20 ‘‘(A) shall be separate from the Thrift Sav- 21 ings Fund established under section 8437, ex- 22 cept with respect to administrative costs for 23 common resources; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1908 IS ‘‘(B) may be used for compensation to pay 1 new employees, additional resources for infor- 2 mation technology, additional call center capac- 3 ity, and any other new capacity to handle the 4 administration of Federal Employee Investment 5 Accounts.’’; 6 (B) in subsection (g)(1)— 7 (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 8 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 9 (ii) by striking the period at the end 10 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 11 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(E) promulgate regulations for the ad- 14 ministration of Federal Employee Investment 15 Accounts.’’; and 16 (C) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 18 is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec- 19 essary to establish and maintain Federal Employee Invest- 20 ment Accounts established under subsection (f), including 21 for the purpose of reducing any fees paid by participants 22 in the Federal Employee Investment Accounts.’’. 23 (c) CIVIL FINES.—The Attorney General or the Spe- 24 cial Counsel may bring a civil action in the appropriate 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1908 IS United States district court against any judge or justice 1 who engages in conduct constituting a violation of this sec- 2 tion and, upon proof of such conduct by a preponderance 3 of the evidence, such judge or justice shall be subject to 4 a civil penalty of not more than $50,000 for each violation. 5 The imposition of a civil penalty under this subsection 6 does not preclude any other criminal or civil statutory, 7 common law, or administrative remedy, which is available 8 by law to the United States or any other person. 9 SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF GIFT BAN. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7353 of title 5, United 11 States Code, is amended— 12 (1) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding 13 paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘anything of value’’ and 14 inserting ‘‘a gift’’; 15 (2) in subsection (b)(2), by adding at the end 16 the following: 17 ‘‘(C) The total monetary value of any gifts ac- 18 cepted by a Member, officer, or employee pursuant 19 to subparagraph (A) as personal hospitality during 20 any calendar year shall not exceed an amount equal 21 to the dollar amount established under paragraph 22 (1) of section 2503(b) of the Internal Revenue Code 23 of 1986 (as adjusted under paragraph (2) of such 24 section) with respect to such calendar year.’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1908 IS (3) in subsection (d)— 1 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 2 the end; 3 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe- 4 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(3) the term ‘gift’ means anything of value, in- 7 cluding transportation, travel, lodgings and meals, 8 whether provided in-kind, by purchase of a ticket, 9 payment in advance, or reimbursement after the ex- 10 pense has been incurred.’’. 11 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Judicial Conference of the 12 United States shall promulgate regulations to carry out 13 the amendment made by subsection (a) with respect to 14 the judicial branch. 15 SEC. 4. RESTRICT PRIVATELY FUNDED EDUCATIONAL 16 EVENTS AND SPEECHES. 17 (a) JUDICIAL EDUCATION FUND.— 18 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Chapter 42 of title 28, 19 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 20 end the following: 21 ‘‘§ 630. Judicial Education Fund 22 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 23 ‘‘(1) the term ‘Board’ means the Board of the 24 Federal Judicial Center established in section 621; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1908 IS ‘‘(2) the term ‘Fund’ means the Judicial Edu- 1 cation Fund established under subsection (b); 2 ‘‘(3) the term ‘institution of higher education’ 3 has the meaning given that term under section 4 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 5 U.S.C. 1001(a)); 6 ‘‘(4) the term ‘national bar association’ means 7 a national organization that is open to general mem- 8 bership to all members of the bar; 9 ‘‘(5) the term ‘private judicial seminar’— 10 ‘‘(A) means a seminar, symposia, panel 11 discussion, course, or a similar event that pro- 12 vides continuing legal education to judges and 13 justices; and 14 ‘‘(B) does not include— 15 ‘‘(i) seminars that last 1 day or less 16 and are conducted by, and on the campus 17 of, an institute of higher education; 18 ‘‘(ii) seminars that last 1 day or less 19 and are conducted by a national bar asso- 20 ciation or State or local bar association for 21 the benefit of the bar association member- 22 ship; or 23 ‘‘(iii) seminars of any length con- 24 ducted by, and on the campus of an insti- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1908 IS tute of higher education or by a national 1 bar association or State or local bar asso- 2 ciation, where a judge or justice is a pre- 3 senter and at which judges and justices 4 constitute less than 25 percent of the par- 5 ticipants; and 6 ‘‘(6) the term ‘State or local bar association’ 7 means a State or local organization that is open to 8 general membership to all members of the bar in the 9 specified geographic region. 10 ‘‘(b) FUND.—There is established within the United 11 States Treasury a fund to be known as the ‘Judicial Edu- 12 cation Fund’. 13 ‘‘(c) USE OF AMOUNTS.—Amounts in the Fund may 14 be made available for the payment of necessary expenses, 15 including reasonable expenditures for transportation, food, 16 lodging, private judicial seminar fees and materials, in- 17 curred by a judge or justice in attending a private judicial 18 seminar approved by the Board. Necessary expenses shall 19 not include expenditures for recreational activities or en- 20 tertainment other than that provided to all attendees as 21 an integral part of the private judicial seminar. Any pay- 22 ment from the Fund shall be approved by the Board. 23 ‘‘(d) REQUIRED INFORMATION.—The Board may ap- 24 prove a private judicial seminar after submission of infor- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1908.IS S1908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1908 IS mation by the sponsor of that private judicial seminar that 1 includes— 2 ‘‘(1) the content of the private judicial seminar 3 (including a list of [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]