Business groups oppose tighter financial disclosures in court amicus briefs

By Mike Scarcella

Feb 14 (Reuters) - Business groups urged a U.S. judicial panel on Friday to reject a proposal to require more funding disclosures in friend-of-the-court briefs that outside groups file to try to influence judges.

The U.S. Judicial Conference's advisory committee on appellate rules held a public hearing on the proposal, which would require anyone submitting amicus briefs to disclose more information about their financial ties to the main parties in an appeal.

Federal court rules require friend-of-the-court, or amicus, filers to disclose whether a company or individual involved in the case helped to fund their brief. But those disclosures are not required if a funding source or donation is general in nature, and not specifically earmarked for a brief.

U.S. Supreme Court lawyer Carter Phillips, representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s litigation arm, questioned the necessity of the proposed rule and suggested it would conflict with the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

“Any rule you adopt that creates a barrier to filing a brief seems to me to chill free expression,” Phillips said at the hearing.

Two speakers from the conservative Heritage Foundation said the proposal was unnecessary and politically motivated.

The panel also heard from Alex Aronson, executive director of the transparency group Court Accountability, who supported the proposed changes. Aronson warned that current rules allowed outside groups to appear independent while actually being “alter egos” of a party in litigation.

The judiciary has spent years discussing the issue of disclosure for funding for amicus briefs, which give interested groups and individuals who are not directly involved in a case the opportunity to include their views.

U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Representative Hank Johnson, both Democrats, have been leading advocates for greater court transparency, and have urged the U.S. judiciary to back tighter controls for amicus briefs.

A panel in June advanced the proposal to amend the disclosure rules. Any rule change would need approval of the Judicial Conference and the U.S. Supreme Court before being submitted to Congress.

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