To: National Desk

Contact: Christa Scharfenberg of the Center for Investigative Reporting, 510-809-3171 or cscharfenberg@cironline.org,

BERKELEY, Calif., Nov. 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A report by the Center for Investigative Reporting documents how numerous federal judges across the country have given political contributions while under consideration for a lifetime appointment to the bench.

A four-month investigation of judges appointed since 2001 by President George W. Bush found that at least two dozen gave money to key Republicans while they were under consideration for an appointment. Those six appellate court judges and 18 district court judges gave a total of more than $44,000 -- while they were judicial candidates -- to politicians who were influential in their appointments. Some gave money to the campaign of the president himself after they were officially nominated.

CIR provides this report as a resource for journalists to look at the political giving of federal judges in their region. The report covers all 249 district and circuit court judges appointed by President Bush and includes a summary of political giving for each judge. The judges' summaries highlight contributions that were made while a judge was under official consideration for his or her appointment. The comments of judges who responded to CIR's inquiries are also included.

In all, at least 23 percent of Bush-appointed appellate judges (11 out of 47) and more than 16 percent of Bush-appointed district judges (34 out of 202) gave campaign contributions of some kind while they were under official consideration for a judgeship. Five of the appellate court judges and 15 of the district judges gave political donations after they were nominated.

For example:

-- After Bush nominated Judge Deborah Cook of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, she gave $2,500 to Ohio politicians who pushed for her nomination. She continued to give while on the bench, in apparent violation of the official Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges.

-- Judge Mark Filip of Illinois gave $2,000 to President Bush after his nomination.

-- Judge Richard Holwell of New York gave $10,000 to Gov. George Pataki, after Pataki's judicial selection committee recommended Holwell to President Bush.

There are no laws or rules prohibiting campaign contributions by a candidate for the federal bench. But some ethics experts and Bush-appointed judges say that political giving is inappropriate for those seeking a federal judgeship. Creating even an appearance of impropriety, they say, can shake the public's confidence in the impartiality and independence of the judiciary. In fact, the American Bar Association is overhauling its own judicial code of conduct, and the current draft of its new guidelines would prohibit campaign contributions by judicial candidates.

"We just have so many problems with contributions to judicial campaigns, and so many problems with campaign contributions to members of the legislature," said Jeffrey M. Shaman, a judicial ethics expert at DePaul University College of Law. "If someone wants to be a judge, then they should, in their sound discretion and wisdom, voluntarily decide not to make these contributions anymore."

As reported in CIR's companion story, published in Salon.com, Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter said that once someone applies for a federal judgeship, he or she should stop making political contributions. When informed that judges in Pennsylvania made contributions past that point to President Bush, Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record) and Sen. Specter himself, he said, "If I had known about it, I would have returned their contributions. I don't want anybody to think that it's relevant."

Visit http://www.muckraker.org to download the full report.

Visit http://www.salon.com/news (click on "Money trails lead to Bush judges" to read the Salon.com story.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

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/© 2006 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

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