A federal judiciary policy panel has urged further consideration of amending disclosure rules for appellate amicus briefs to address “important and complex” concerns raised by two members of Congress about purported efforts by some individuals and organizations to conceal funding sources.

Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has pushed the federal judiciary and Congress for several years to address his concerns that the funding of amicus briefs and of the organizations that file them, particularly in the U.S. Supreme Court, was not being disclosed adequately to the courts or the public.