The Judges Approving the NSA’s Surveillance Requests Keep Buying Verizon Stock

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (better known as the FISA Court) judges own Verizon stock. On May 28 last year, Judge James Zagel, a FISA Court member since 2008, purchased stock in Verizon. In June of this year, Zagel signed off on a government request to the FISA Court to renew the ongoing metadata collection program. FISA Court Judge Susan Wright purchased Verizon stock on October 22. FISA Court Judge Dennis Saylor has owned Verizon stock. The precise amount and value of each investment is unclear -- like many government ethics disclosures, including those for federal lawmakers, investments amounts are revealed within certain ranges of value. Do the investments constitute a conflict of interest? Federal judges are bound by an ethics law that requires them to recuse themselves from cases in which they hold a financial stake in the outcome, or in cases in which their "impartiality might reasonably be questioned."