Congress tightens judicial gift rules, creating new enforcement teeth
H.R. 9688 — High Court Gift Ban Act · Filed by Jamie Raskin (D-MD) · 44 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 14, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill prohibits federal judges from accepting gifts valued over $50 from a single source or $100 in aggregate per year, with exceptions for family gifts, honorary degrees, professional organization benefits, and reimbursed seminar expenses. Violations are enforceable by the Attorney General through civil penalties or criminal prosecution for knowing violations.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to codify and enforce gift restrictions on federal judges, closing gaps in existing ethics rules and creating a clear enforcement mechanism through the Attorney General.
What the text implies
- The bill creates a new enforcement pathway through the Attorney General, potentially politicizing ethics complaints if the AG's office becomes selective in prosecution.
- The $50/$100 thresholds are fixed in statute rather than indexed to inflation, meaning their real value will erode over time unless Congress amends the law.
- Judges may face increased scrutiny of personal relationships and family gifts, as the bill requires judges to assess whether gifts to relatives were given 'because of' their official position.
- The 180-day implementation window requires the Supreme Court and Judicial Conference to promulgate new regulations, creating a period of uncertainty about enforcement standards.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill strengthens judicial ethics and public trust by restricting judges' ability to accept gifts from parties with interests before them, reducing appearance of impropriety and potential conflicts of interest. The exceptions are narrow and well-defined, preserving legitimate professional development and family relationships without creating loopholes.
Named in the bill
Federal judges, Supreme Court, Judicial Conference of the US, Attorney General, Chief Justice, Circuit and district judges, Internal Revenue Code section 2503
Where it stands
44 cosponsors: 44 Democrats.
- Jul 14, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 14, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (6,380 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress tightens judicial gift rules, creating new enforcement teeth” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr9688 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.