Three judges, three scandals and new scrutiny of judicial accountability : NPR

In Georgia, a Republican lawmaker filed articles of impeachment Tuesday against an Atlanta judge who allegedly had sex in her chambers and then denied it to investigators, only to change course when they developed evidence otherwise.

In Idaho, a federal appeals court judge is under internal investigation after a parking lot incident in which he allegedly smashed the eyeglasses of a fellow motorist.

And in Michigan, a federal district court judge pleaded not guilty to violating the terms of his probation, after he allegedly failed to undergo drug and alcohol tests following a conviction for driving under the influence.

Federal judges tasked with upholding the law now stand accused of skirting it in these three high-profile incidents this week.

“When judges act badly, even in their private lives, it reflects badly on everyone else,” said Jeremy Fogel, a retired judge who now leads the Berkeley Judicial Institute, which works to promote an ethical and independent judiciary. “The focus in all three of these cases has to be the larger reputation of the judiciary and not just these three individual people.”

The code of conduct for federal judges requires them to uphold the integrity of the judiciary and avoid impropriety — or even the appearance of improper behavior — “in all activities.”

The judiciary’s system for policing misconduct is coming under fresh scrutiny in light of the recent incidents playing out across three different states.

In Idaho, Ninth Circuit Appeals Court Judge Ryan Nelson pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge after a confrontation in a parking lot recently uncovered by the Idaho State Journal. During the April encounter, which was captured on video and obtained by the State Journal, Nelson allegedly grabbed a motorist’s glasses and stomped on them in a fight over parking. The incident went unreported publicly for months, while Nelson continued to hear cases.

Curtis Smith, a lawyer for Judge Nelson, said he is “embarrassed by this incident.”

Smith added: “It is out of character and does not represent how he behaves. Immediately afterwards, Mr. Nelson reached out and offered an apology and full compensation for the sunglasses. He intends to continue to work through the proper process.”

This week, Chief Ninth Circuit Judge Mary Murguia launched her own investigation, noting in an order Monday that “all of the above information was only very recently received” by the courts. Murguia said she was publicly disclosing the probe as part of a commitment to maintain public confidence in the judiciary’s ability to address misconduct.

That same day, in Michigan, U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington faced arraignment after state law enforcement said he failed to undergo required alcohol testing as part of his probation. Ludington took paid leave this year after a reporter at The Detroit News reported he had been arrested for driving under the influence. Ludington pleaded no contest to a lesser misdemeanor charge. His lawyer, Jonathan Steffy, said in a written statement, “Judge Ludington is making every effort at compliance with all court orders. Current tests all show complete and continued sobriety.”

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has authority to investigate whether he is suffering from a condition that amounts to a disability, also declined comment.

The judiciary’s system for policing misconduct includes punishment such as informal warnings and public reprimands. Judges who engage in wrongdoing can be barred from taking new cases, ordered to apologize and undergo training, and stripped of staff members.

In rare cases, Congress gets involved. Lawmakers have the power to impeach or remove judges but only 15 federal judges have been impeached, and just eight have been removed from office, according to Gabe Roth of Fix the Court, a group that promotes transparency and accountability.

Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Georgia Republican, filed three articles of impeachment against U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross Tuesday, for alleged high crimes and misdemeanors. The articles include allegations Ross engaged in sexual activity in the workplace and attended a political event hosted by the campaign of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Rep. Clay Fuller, another Georgia Republican, filed a similar impeachment resolution a day earlier.

“Judge Ross’ deeply disturbing actions prove she is incapable of displaying integrity or showing impartiality,” Rep. Clyde said. “She’s simply unfit to remain a U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Georgia, which is why I’m leading the charge to impeach Judge Ross and ultimately remove her from the bench.”

A judicial council issued a private reprimand of the judge, without identifying her by name, in a lengthy order last month. The document said the unnamed judge had sex in chambers with a high-ranking police officer during business hours, while clerks could hear, and then made false statements about it to her judicial superiors.

“What would be a fireable offense in most other workplaces is given no more than a slap on the wrist in the federal judiciary, where judges are inexplicably exempt from the anti-harassment laws they interpret,” said Aliza Shatzman, who runs the Legal Accountability Project, a group designed to make it easier for young law clerks to access information about problematic judges.

Lawyers across the country are debating whether the punishment, which included apologies to a half dozen law clerks, and an agreement never to serve as chief judge, was too light. The unnamed judge had initially cast doubt on the account of law clerks who served as witnesses, only to take that back.

“This is a classic case of judges protecting other judges,” said Roth, of Fix the Court.

“Judges feel they’re untouchable and so they’re willing to throw their own staff to the wolves and feel like that’s ok to save their own skin,” he added.

But retired 7th Circuit Judge Diane Wood, writing in Bloomberg Law, said, “Others may have decided differently, but I see nothing here that casts doubt on the genuineness or integrity of the decisions the (Judicial Conduct and Disability) Committee made.”
Wood argued the judiciary’s self-policing system works well in practice.

Judge Ross’s case recalls a similar episode that unfolded in Alaska. There, U.S. District Judge Joshua Kindred resigned two years ago, after an internal investigation found he sent crude messages to employees, had sexual contact with a former clerk, and then lied about it.

“Judge Kindred lied to investigators and his career was destroyed. It’s just sort of baffling that the judge in Atlanta did the same thing and got a private reprimand,” said Michael Fragoso, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington.

Fragoso said the best approach is for the courts to “deal with these kinds of cases in a fully transparent and understandable way.”

“The more opaque and Byzantine the process is, I think the worse it is for the perception of the courts handing their own affairs.”

For over a year, NPR has investigated judges’ power over the mostly young law clerks they supervise, finding problems with the courts’ policing system in the Kindred case and several others.