Judge Seminars: To Inform or Influence?

April 6 -- At three o'clock on a glorious weekday afternoon in Tucson, Ariz., a group of federal judges finishes up the ninth hole on the links of one of the country's top golf courses.

In addition to golf, the judges have gathered at a resort to attend an educational program that critics call an inappropriate junket.

Golf, Sun and Seminars

Each year about one in 10 federal judges will attend similar private gatherings at some of the finest resorts in the country. The bill is picked up by a handful of groups that get their money from big corporations and pro-business organizations. Some argue the groups have a lot more on their agenda than a few rounds of golf.

"This is the way corporate America is lobbying the judiciary — teaching judges to rule as if they were corporate CEOs," says Doug Kendall, director of a nonprofit environmental group called The Community Rights Counsel. Kendall's group has linked the judges' seminars with what it considers the 10 most dramatic rulings against environmental protection laws.

"We found that in all 10 of those cases the judge writing the opinion had been to at least one of these junkets," says Kendall, "In six of those 10 cases, the judge was attending a junket while the case was pending before them."

In one case involving the timber industry, a federal judge completely reversed his position after attending one of these private seminars. The judge denies the seminar affected his industry-friendly decision but Kendall is skeptical.

The seminar in Tucson is organized by the Law and Economics Center, out of George Mason University's law school, which has a reputation for a pro-business leaning. The judges' week included seven separate sessions, which the school says are unbiased and over the years have included Nobel prize-winning economists.

Corporations Paying the Tab

George Mason's dean, Mark Grady, sees nothing morally questionable about the seminars. "These are academic retreats. What could be more natural than for a law school to seek to train academic judges?" he asks.