New report exposes secrecy in the discipline of federal judges
December 14, 2009
Houston, Texas: The December 13, 2009 edition of The Houston Chronicle contained an investigation of the current system of discipline that is used to hold federal judges accountable when they are accused of violating professional and ethical standards on and off the bench.[1]
The report found that only seven federal judges have been formally disciplined, with one impeached and another awaiting impeachment proceedings during this decade. These seven are out of over 3,000 ethics complaints that have been filed on federal judges during the past ten years.[1]
The newspaper also reported that most judicial discipline reviews are kept secret to prevent judges from facing frivolous litigation from prisoners and disgruntled litigants. However, former Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Sensenbrenner, thinks the report is a call to reform the current judicial discipline system. Sensenbrenner said: "any type of misconduct impacts upon the integrity of judges and erodes the public confidence of the federal judiciary."[1] The Wisconsin Congressman introduced legislation in 2009 to create an Inspector General of the Federal Courts to improve the handling of judicial misconduct investigations.
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