Chief justice asked to ban prediction markets participation for justices and staff
With the booming prediction markets industry causing concern in Congress, U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, has asked Chief Justice John Roberts to ban U.S. Supreme Court justices and staff from gambling or otherwise participating in prediction markets. (Image from Shutterstock)
With the booming prediction markets industry causing concern in Congress, U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, has asked Chief Justice John Roberts to ban U.S. Supreme Court justices and staff from gambling or otherwise participating in prediction markets.
Landsman, a Democrat from Ohio, sent a letter June 30 to Roberts expressing concern about the conflicts of interest and ethical risks posed by prediction markets betting on Supreme Court decisions and operations. In the letter, Landsman urged Roberts to “consider adopting a policy to ban the use of prediction markets for all justices, officers and staff.”
There are already applicable prohibitions. In the existing Code of Conduct for Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, which the Supreme Court adoped in November 2023, Canon 4(D)(4) states that a justice “should not disclose or use nonpublic information acquired in a judicial capacity for any purpose unrelated to the Justice’s official duties.”
The code for law clerks and judicial staff contains language prohibiting the use of confidential information for personal gain, according to a story by Above the Law.
At the same time, Democratic members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee have been calling on the entire federal judiciary to ban judges and court employees from participating in prediction markets.
U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Georgia, the ranking member on the committee’s courts panel, sent a letter Tuesday to a top federal judicial official warning that participation may undermine judicial independence, according to a story by Bloomberg Tax.
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