Posted on 08/16/2002 5:52:44 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal judges usually police one another's behavior, but they rarely mete out punishment. Of 766 ethical complaints lodged last year, only one resulted in a penalty.
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Federal judges have lifetime appointments, and only Congress can remove them from office. Other forms of punishment come at the discretion of fellow federal judges.
In the single case last year in which the judge was punished, the penalty was a private censure and no details — not even the judge's name — were released.
The system encourages lenient treatment, American University law professor Paul Rice said Tuesday.
"They have an obligation to police themselves, and of course that is the problem," he said. Judges sit on the boards that review allegations of ethical misconduct and are loath to punish a colleague, Rice said.
"We don't like burning brothers in the bond, because you don't know whose ox is going to be gored in the future," he said.
The American Bar Association plans a national commission, to be announced during the group's annual meeting this week in Washington, to examine wider ethical questions involving judges. The group's incoming president points to an erosion of public trust in the judicial system as money and politics play a growing role in the election of state judges.
Hundreds of ethical complaints are filed against federal judges each year, many of them by prisoners or others unhappy with the outcome of a case. A large portion of the complaints are frivolous and the overwhelming majority are quickly dismissed by the local chief judge or by a local judges' council, said Richard Carelli, spokesman for the federal judiciary's Washington administrative office.
During the 12 months ending in September 2001, 766 complaints were filed and 668 were resolved. Only five were referred to a special investigative committee, and four of those were later dismissed, according to statistics compiled by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
Ethical questions arose in recent, high-profile cases involving ties between the FBI ( news - web sites) and the Boston Mafia and bribery charges against now-expelled Rep. James A. Traficant.
The Boston case concerns a letter Judge Edward F. Harrington sent last week in support of retired Boston FBI Special Agent John J. Connolly Jr., who will be sentenced next month on obstruction of justice and other charges. Connolly faces up to eight years in prison for protecting his longtime mob informants, James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi.
The letter, on Harrington's judicial stationery, urged a fellow federal judge who will sentence Connolly to consider the former agent's years of work investigating the mob. Harrington called Connolly "a man of the highest character and ability."
Harrington withdrew the letter Monday, citing public criticism. In a second letter to sentencing Judge Joseph L. Tauro, Harrington said he had done nothing wrong but apologized for provoking a controversy.
Harrington is a former federal prosecutor and Justice Department ( news - web sites) lawyer who apparently knew of an alliance between the FBI and Boston organized crime figures from the dawn of the arrangement.
He was deputy chief of a federal organized crime task force in 1970, when his name appears on a memo urging that a mob informant named Joseph "The Animal" Barboza get at least some of the $9,000 he sought for plastic surgery to change his appearance.
Harrington was named to the federal bench by President Reagan in 1987.
Tauro apparently did not invite the Harrington letter. That may mean Harrington breached the code of conduct federal judges have set for themselves.
"A judge should be sensitive to possible abuse of the prestige of office," the code says. "A judge should not initiate the communication of information to a sentencing judge or corrections officer, but may provide to such persons information in response to a formal request."
No formal complaint is pending.
In the Traficant case, the flamboyant former congressman has repeatedly said Judge Lesley Wells should have stepped aside because her husband is a partner in a law firm with ties to a prominent witness in the case.
Wells, named to the bench by President Clinton ( news - web sites) in 1994, has said she had no reason to disqualify herself. She did move to recuse herself from the government's related case against the witness, John Cafaro.
Traficant has vowed to seek a new trial based on Wells' conduct, but he has apparently not filed a formal complaint against her. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ( news - web sites) would not say whether there are any pending complaints against the judge.
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Traficant should MOST DEFINITELY file a formal complaint against Judge Wells. Yesterday, I posted an ariticle that state that last Thursday Judge Wells RECUSED herself from the Detore case for EXACTLY the SAME reasons that Traficant asked her to recuse herself from in his case. And why WON'T the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals say whether there are any pending complaints against Judge Wells?
It surprises me that he hasn't. I wonder why he is waiting?
OMG!!! And there is no call for the IMPEACHMENT of Judge Wells? Where did you find out about those complaints and what is the nature of the complaints?
The Traficant case is SCREAMING to be overturned on Appeal!!!
p.s. I wish Ashcroft would get himself a set of cojones and at least let Traficant out until the Appeals is ruled on.
I sure hope you know something that I don't know but I believe you when you say that Traficant's appeals attorneys are aware of Judge Wells recusal backtracking. Just too bad the judge couldn't allow Traficant out on bond while the appeals process take place. She said he is a flight risk. What a hoot! Where could he possibly escape to? The fact is he has EVERY REASON to stay put and run for Congress in the Youngstown area.
Judge Wells is a self-righteous IDIOT!!!
Hopefully down the toilet. The White House is deciding right now whether to approve the appointment of this careerist aparatchik.
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