The policymaking body for the federal courts announced Tuesday the development of a new electronic system for more access to the financial disclosure reports of federal judges, as Congress has passed bills with broad bipartisan support on the issue in the past few months.
The Senate passed an amended bill last month to require online publication of judicial financial disclosure reports, along with a searchable database of those reports, and require federal judges to submit periodic reports for certain securities transactions. The House passed a slightly different version of that same bill in December.
What the U.S. Judicial Conference authorized Tuesday would not go that far. The courts authorized a process to streamline access to those reports, but it still requires someone to fill out a form and request them. Officials also said the system would continue to be developed.
