Benchmarking Transparency: A Comparative Case Study of State Judicial Financial Disclosure Protocols
Date of Completion
2025
Document Type
Honors College Thesis
Department
Political Science
Thesis Type
Honors College, College of Arts and Science Honors
First Advisor
Lisa Holmes
Keywords
Judicial Transparency, Financial Disclosure, State Supreme Courts, Judicial Ethics, Judicial Oversight, Public Administration
Abstract
This comparative case study examines judicial financial disclosure protocols across Alaska, Arizona, Vermont, and Wyoming, evaluating transparency, accessibility, and regulatory consistency. Through analyzing financial disclosure reports from each state’s supreme court justices from the 2023 reporting year, the research identifies significant variations in disclosure requirements and public availability. While some states prioritize financial transparency and have expansive requirements, others impose restrictive access or have vague requirements, raising concerns about judicial accountability. The study highlights the implications of these inconsistencies for public trust and proposes best practices for standardizing state-level judicial financial disclosures.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Weaver, Aubrey, "Benchmarking Transparency: A Comparative Case Study of State Judicial Financial Disclosure Protocols" (2025). UVM Patrick Leahy Honors College Senior Theses. 762.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses/762