No FREE Lunches

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Three federal appellate court judges have been urged to resign from the board of the Foundation for Research in Economics and Environment (FREE). FREE, which receives funding from companies including Texaco, ExxonMobil and Monsanto, says it "harmonizes environmental quality with responsible liberty and economic progress." FREE pays for judges to attend seminars and "visit resorts in the area around Yellowstone National Park" -- to the tune of $10,000 per person, according to tax records. The dean of New York University's law school remarked: "A judge should not sit on the board of a group like FREE or any other group with a strident ideological profile on isues of a kind that come before the court."