Federal Judge Aileen M. Cannon, the controversial jurist who tossed out the classified documents criminal case against Donald Trump in July, failed to disclose her attendance at a May 2023 banquet funded by a conservative law school.

Cannon went to an event in Arlington, Va. honoring the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, according to documents obtained from the Law and Economics Center at George Mason University. At a lecture and private dinner, she sat among members of Scalia’s family, fellow Federalist Society members and more than 30 conservative federal judges. Organizers billed the event as “an excellent opportunity to connect with judicial colleagues.”

A 2006 rule, intended to shine a light on judges’ attendance at paid seminars that could pose conflicts or influence decisions, requires them to file disclosure forms for such trips within 30 days and make them public on the court’s website.

It’s not the first time she has failed to fully comply with the rule.

In 2021 and 2022, Cannon took weeklong trips to the luxurious Sage Lodge in Pray, Montana, for legal colloquiums sponsored by George Mason, which named its law school for Scalia thanks to $30 million in gifts that conservative judicial kingmaker Leonard Leo helped organize.

  • fpslem@lemmy.worldOP
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    3 months ago

    For the record, while the Supreme Court justices have refused to hold themselves to the same standards as lower court judges, a U.S. District Court judge like Cannon is indeed bound by the Code of Conduct for United States Judges and the policies of the Judicial Conference, which do require disclosure of such gifts and trips.

  • azimir@lemmy.ml
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    3 months ago

    Who would have guessed that she’s corrupt? Strange that she’s acting just like her right wing anti-Constitution bosses on the Supreme Court. I wonder how that kind of corruption trickles down.