Justice is BLIND Act of 2026

New blind trust rules for judges

This bill would require justices, judges, magistrate judges, and bankruptcy judges — and their spouses and dependent children — to put covered financial interests into a qualified blind trust. Current judges would have 90 days after enactment to place covered interests into trusts, and new judges would have 90 days after swearing in. Officials must file a written attestation within 15 days that the trust was created or that no covered interests exist; those attestations would be posted online by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. "Covered financial interest" would include securities, commodities, futures, and similar derivative positions but would exclude widely held diversified investment funds, U.S. Treasury bills, notes, and bonds, and employer pay to a spouse or dependent child. The bill would not require judges to keep checking the identity of investments inside a qualified blind trust after setup, except for the initial assets; it would also bar dissolving or controlling such a trust until 180 days after the official leaves office. A severability clause would keep the rest of the rules in force if part is struck down.