Legal News

Report: Justices Alito, Roberts Pare Down Stock Holdings

By Dan Slater

We’ve done a handful of posts in recent weeks on Supreme Court justices recusing themselves from cases due to stock holdings. (Click here and here.) The issue prompted at least one leading legal light to ask: why can’t the justices just sell their stock in advance of arguments?

According to financial disclosures released today, they have. The WSJ is reporting that several Supreme Court justices sold a handful of individual stock holdings in 2007. CJ Roberts, after pushing for a 2006 tax change that eases the tax burden on judges when they sell stock, dumped between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of Citigroup stock a week before the court heard arguments in Credit Suisse Securities v. Billing, a case where the court ruled 7-1 that Wall Street firms are immune from certain class-action lawsuits brought under federal antitrust laws. He also sold $50,000 to $100,000 worth of Cisco, which allowed him to be the fifth vote in the 5-3 Stoneridge ruling that restricted the ability of shareholders to sue lawyers, accountants and other third parties that do business with corporations.

Justice Alito also pared some of his stock holdings, according to the report, by selling a stake in Intel and selling part of his holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb, McDonald and Exxon. As did Justice Breyer, who said he sold Alltel, as well as stakes in PartnerRe and Scottish Power.

Still, Roberts, Breyer and Alito are the most likely to recuse themselves because of stock conflicts. As of the end of 2007, Roberts held 16 individual stocks while Breyer held 39 and Alito five.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 06, 2008 (boomark / email).