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FIRST ON FOX: U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper is facing a judicial misconduct complaint from a conservative watchdog group, which argues he should have recused himself from a lawsuit involving President Donald Trump’s effort to rename the Kennedy Center.
The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) alleged that Cooper should have bowed out of the case because his wife, Amy Jeffress, has a history of representing what the group described as “anti-Trump” clients. In May, Cooper ruled against Trump by permanently blocking the renaming of the Kennedy Center after Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, filed a lawsuit.
CASA filed a complaint with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday, alleging Cooper failed to disclose or recuse himself despite what it called significant financial and professional interests stemming from his wife’s involvement in litigation against Trump.
“CASA is filing a judicial complaint against Obama-appointed DC District Court Judge Christopher Cooper for his potentially unethical behavior after his failure to recuse himself from the frivolous Kennedy Center lawsuit filed against President Trump, given his wife’s financial interests in opposing President Trump’s agenda through litigation,” CASA Director of Research and Policy Curtis Schube said in a statement.
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The complaint comes more than a week after Trump slammed Cooper for having a “conflict of interest,” pointing to Cooper’s wife, Amy Jeffress’, track record of representing Trump’s biggest foes, including former anti-Trump FBI lawyer Lisa Page, and currently representing former President Joe Biden, who is suing Trump’s Justice Department over the release of Robert Hur’s interview recordings.
“Cooper’s wife is longtime Democrat activist and attorney Amy Jeffress. Jeffress is the former counsel to the January 6th committee, works as former President Biden’s personal lawyer, and currently represents Biden in ongoing litigation against President Trump,” Schube said. “There was a clear need for Cooper to recuse himself from this matter, or at the very least disclose these conflicts. By doing neither, Cooper caused — at the very least — an appearance of impropriety, which warrants a full investigation.”
The complaint does not challenge Cooper’s ruling itself, but it argues that his involvement in the case could raise reasonable questions about his ability to be impartial under the federal judiciary’s Code of Conduct.
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“We are deeply concerned with the fact that a sitting federal judge did not recuse himself, and adjudicated to disposition, a case from which he and his spouse financially benefit,” the complaint states. “Indeed, a large portion of his wife’s business model appears to rely on handling litigation that is anti-Trump in nature.”
CASA argues that Cooper may have violated Canon 1, which requires judges to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary.
Read the complaint below. App users: Click here
“Canon 1 requires that a judge uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary,” the filing states. “Judge Cooper, presumably, goes home every night to his wife whose career is predicated on suing President Trump.”
CASA argued Cooper is in violation of Canon 2, which requires judges to avoid situations that could appear improper, even when no actual misconduct has occurred.
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“More specifically, Canon 2 lists occasions when the appearance of a relationship affects a judge’s ability to adjudicate a case: 1) when public confidence is hampered; and 2) when spousal relationships influence judicial conduct,” the complaint stated. “Both problems are present here.”
The complaint also argues that Cooper violated Canon 3, which requires judges to remain fair and impartial and that recusal may be warranted when a judge’s spouse’s interests or potential partisan influences could reasonably raise questions about that impartiality.
The complaint concludes by urging the D.C. Circuit to investigate Cooper and determine whether disciplinary action is warranted.
Appointed by President Barack Obama, Cooper has served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., since 2014.
Cooper has long been the target of conflict of interest allegations from Trump and his allies. The judge drew scrutiny during Special Counsel John Durham’s prosecution of former Clinton campaign-linked attorney Michael Sussmann, which was a part of Durham’s broader probe into the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation centered on the now-debunked Russian-Trump collusion theory.
Critics argued then that he should have recused himself because his wife, attorney Amy Jeffress, represented former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, a figure tied to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
Fox News Digital reached out to Cooper and Jeffress for comment.