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Report: Judge junkets may taint environmental rulings

The report says federal judges Ginsburg (left) and Williams voted against EPA limits on smog and soot after attending a purportedly pro-business environmental seminar at a Montana resort

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More than 200 judges may have been influenced to rule against the environment in court cases after being attending all-expenses-paid trips to conferences and seminars organized by business group, a report says.

The report released this week by the Community Rights Counsel, a public interest law firm, says 237 judges took 539 trips over a three-year period.

Each trip, to dude ranches and lush resorts, was worth thousands of dollars and was paid for by several conservative organizations that favor property rights in environmental disputes, the report said.

For instance, the report says District of Columbia federal judges Douglas Ginsburg and Stephen Williams voted against the Environmental Protection Agency's limits on smog and soot after attending a purportedly pro-business environmental seminar at a Montana resort. The Supreme Court will review the case this fall.

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"While you can't prove influence in specific cases, it's hard to imagine a week spent listening on one side of a contentious issue won't have some impact," said Doug Kendall, CCR's executive director. "Judges are taught how and why to strike down federal environmental protections. Some judges appear to be listening."

In 1993, Williams ruled against timber interests when the endangered spotted owl was at risk of extinction. After a seminar at Elk Creek Ranch in Idaho, Williams reversed his role, the group charged.

Neither Ginsburg nor Williams was available for comment.

While most judges are honest and do not engage in activities that present potential conflict of interest, some actions like taking free trips organized by special interests clouds the judicial branch, former chief judge at the D.C. federal circuit Abner Mikva wrote in a foreword to the report.

"If an actual party to a case took the judge to a resort, all expenses paid, shortly before the case was heard, it would not matter what they talked about. Even if all they discussed were their prostate problems, the judge and the party would be perceived to be acting improperly," he wrote.

The CCR, whose backers include CNN founder Ted Turner's Turner Foundation, has questioned the ethics of judge's junkets before. The link to specific opinions is new.

The rebuttal from business groups

The seminars and conferences are paid for by several conservative organizations that favor property rights in environmental disputes, the report says

Businessman John Baden said that the seminars run by his Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment -- or FREE -- are not funded with corporate money. FREE is one of the business groups identified as one of the most active organizers of judicial junkets.

"These are foundations established by people who've been absent by death for many, many years. There's no possibility of them appearing before a judge," he said.

FREE'S program for the judges' 1998 session ranged from a program on from environmental economics to one on beavers and ranchers.

"You're going to see this sort of analysis that we present to the judges is right down the strike zone. It's mainstream stuff," Baden said.

CRR says ban seminars for judges

The CCR wants a ban of privately funded seminars for judges.

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry is proposing legislation to provide more federal funds for judicial education to end the appearance of conflict.

CNN Senior Washington Correspondent Charles Bierbauer contributed to this report.

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