Federal Judge Hits Vegas Jackpot

A federal appeals court judge cashed in on a visit to Las Vegas last year, her 2010 financial disclosure form appears to show.

Judge Catharine Haynes, a George W. Bush appointee to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, reported “non-investment income” of $1,270 from “the Bellagio video poker jackpot,” which your blogger assumes is a reference to this Bellagio and not this one. The happy even took place Aug. 21.

The information came to light during the reporting of this story on 5th Circuit judges and their investments in the oil and gas industry, in which the following was revealed:

The new reports show that only one judge who formerly had stocks in an oil and gas company is now free from any association with the industry.

That is Judge Catharina Haynes, an appointee of President George W. Bush who previously held up to $15,000 in BP PLC stock but sold several weeks after the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig began the Gulf spill. BP was the owner of the leaking oil well.