Sponsors (42)
Official title: To prohibit Federal judges from receiving gifts valued over $50 in an instance or $100 in the aggregate in a year from a source unless excepted, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 14, 2026 by Jamie Ben Raskin · Last progress July 14, 2026
The bill tightens judicial gift rules to strengthen impartiality and public trust, but increases legal risk and compliance burdens for judges, may constrain education/travel funded by non‑government sponsors, and imposes administrative work to implement oversight.
Federal judicial officers will face clearer, stricter limits on accepting gifts, reducing conflicts of interest and making the judiciary appear more impartial to the public.
Judges and their families face the risk of civil or criminal penalties for inadvertently accepting small or inadvertent gifts, raising personal legal exposure and a heavier compliance burden.
Federal judges may have reduced access to continuing legal education or professional events because seminar and travel reimbursements are capped at $2,000 (absent a waiver), potentially limiting training and networking opportunities.
The Judicial Conference and the Department of Justice will need to implement and monitor the new rules, creating administrative workload, regulatory development time, and possible short-term delays as courts adapt.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Bars most gifts to federal judicial officers by imposing a $50 per-gift limit and a $100 per-source annual cap, with listed exceptions and enforcement.
Prohibits federal judicial officers from accepting most gifts by setting two dollar-value limits: a single gift must be reasonably believed to be worth less than $50 and total gifts from the same source in a calendar year must be $100 or less. The bill lists specific exceptions (relatives, certain awards, widely available programs, covered seminar reimbursements, and personal hospitality up to a statutory amount), provides definitions, creates an enforcement pathway involving referral to the Attorney General and notification to judicial councils, and requires the Supreme Court and Judicial Conference to issue implementing regulations within 180 days.