Judge stays on Catholic bankruptcy case despite donations he made to church

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A New Orleans-based federal judge donated tens of thousands of dollars to the New Orleans archdiocese while serving on a judicial panel overseeing the archdiocese’s bankruptcy case and making rulings in favor of the archdiocese.

That’s according to an Associated Press investigation. During a status conference, Judge Greg Guidry said that despite the AP’s findings, he would not recuse himself from the high-profile bankruptcy he oversees in an appellate role.

The archdiocese sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020 after several sexual abuse lawsuits were filed. The AP says within a year of his most recent contributions, Guidry began issuing rulings that altered the momentum of the bankruptcy and benefited the archdiocese.

The AP found that Guidry donated nearly $50,000 to the archdiocese from his leftover contributions after serving 10 years as a Louisiana supreme court justice.

Guidry said he received an opinion from the committee on codes of conduct, which said he didn’t need to recuse himself because the charities he donated to aren’t the actual parties before him.

He also said the contributions amounted to less than 25 percent of the campaign funds he had to donate.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.

Copyright 2023 WVUE. All rights reserved.