Miscellaneous

Federal Judges Agree to Sunshine

By Anne Skove, Esq.

We love the federal courts for their uniformity. Unlike state courts, the feds stand still long enough to be counted and studied. (FJC people are laughing right now, but trust us -- each individual state court is its own crazy quilt!)

Now, we can love federal courts for their openness as well. The Judicial Conference of the United States adopted new rules allowing final orders on complaints to be posted on appellate court Web sites. Sanctioned judges will be mentioned by name in most cases.

What pushed the Judicial Conference to these measures? Most complaints against federal judges are meritless. But a committee headed by Justice Breyer released a 2006 report complaining about the way complaints are handled.

See Rulings on Judge Complaints to Be Public, Mark Sherman, AP (March 11, 2008).

The Judicial Conference also released a proposed new Code of Judicial Conduct. The draft is open for comment thru April 18.

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on March 15, 2008 (boomark / email).