By Manny Marotta

Last July, we published a report called “Conflict U.” in which we identified two dozen federal judges who taught at universities around the U.S. and who did not recuse in cases in which the university was a party.

Since then, we’ve been heartened to find that several judges are are recusing  in cases involving institutions at which they teach. But we’ve also identified judges not included in the original report who have been overseeing cases involving their university-employers.

We found two such judges last week:

1. Judge Dustin Howell (W.D. Texas, Magistrate) has been an adjunct at the University of Texas School of Law since 2025, but he is currently assigned to two cases in which UT Austin is a party:
— Brantley v. UT Austin (W.D. Texas, 26-311)
— Bennett v. UT Austin (W.D. Texas, 26-1601)

He has not recused himself in either case. Though Howell notes on his disclosure that his work as a UT is unpaid, this is still a conflict.

2. Judge Karen Marston (E.D. Pennsylvania) has been an adjunct at the Drexel University Kline School of Law since at least 2021, and in that time, she has heard at least one case involving Drexel as a party without a recusal:
—Doe v. Drexel (E.D. Pennsylvania, 23-3555)

We will continue to monitor these cases and urge judges to take their ethical obligations more seriously.