California, Courthouses, Legal Ethics, Sex, Sex Scandals, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns

Judges Of The Day: 2 Jurists Spanked For Having Sex In Chambers

We wish they all could be California... judges.

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For some judges, especially judges coming out of private practice, taking the bench means a better lifestyle and shorter hours. But other judges work hard — very hard.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit is famous for his work ethic — and for how hard he works his clerks. Judge Mark Bennett of Iowa warns clerkship applicants, “I am looking for a clerk that is willing to work harder than they have ever worked in their life…. If they are one of those life must be balanced folks please don’t waste my time and don’t bother applying.”

Some chambers are well-equipped for long hours. They come with kitchenettes for cooking, showers for bathing (generally reserved for the judges), and couches for napping. And maybe more than napping….

When I first saw the headline “Two California judges who had sex in their chambers disciplined,” I thought to myself, “What’s so bad about that?” There’s precedent for judges getting together — see, e.g., the Fifth Circuit couple of Judge Carolyn Dineen King and Judge Thomas M. Reavley, or the Fourth Circuit couple of Diana Motz and Frederick Motz (of the District of Maryland) — and if two married judges want to have a discreet little hook-up in chambers when nobody is around, what’s the problem?

Alas, the censured California judges weren’t having sex with each other, and they weren’t very discreet:

The state’s judicial disciplinary commission censured two California judges Tuesday who had sex in their courthouse chambers – one with two of his former law students and the other with a court clerk.

The actions against Orange County Judge Scott Steiner, who had intimate relations with the former law students, and Kern County Judge Cory Woodward, who misled superiors about his 10-month relationship with a court clerk, are the strongest public reprimand the Commission on Judicial Performance can wield against a judge.

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Oy. Well, it’s (arguably) not as bad as having sex in chambers with a litigant with a case pending before you. But former judge Wade McCree is hardly a judicial role model.

Nor, for that matter, are Judge Steiner and Judge Woodward:

Having sex, even consensually, in one’s court chambers is “the height of irresponsible and improper behavior by a judge,” and shows “an utter disrespect for the dignity and decorum of the court,” the commission said….

The commission said Steiner had sex in his chambers in 2012 with one of his interns and with a local attorney, both of whom had been his students at Chapman University.

Some say that Chapman law grads are screwed, but this is a bit too literal.

And the ethics authorities weren’t pleased by Judge Steiner’s efforts to help his paramour find employment:

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Around the same time [as the affair], the commission said, he wrote a letter of recommendation for the intern, who was applying for a job with the district attorney’s office. When she did not get called back for a second interview, Steiner telephoned a lawyer at the office and “sounded perplexed and irritated,” the commission said.

As for Judge Woodward, his lover already had a job — working under him:

The panel said Woodward had a sexual relationship with his court clerk from approximately July 2012 through mid-May 2013, used the court computer to exchange personal messages with her, passed “notes of a sexual nature” to her during court proceedings, and allowed her to call him by a nickname in the presence of other court staff.

I wonder what that nickname was. Presumably not “Your Honor.”

How did the affair come to the attention of the authorities? From The Recorder (emphasis added):

Despite complaints from fellow clerks and the clerk’s husband about the couple’s actions, Woodward repeatedly blocked efforts to have the woman reassigned. It wasn’t until May 2013, after expressing “security concerns” about the clerk’s husband, that Woodward confessed to his superiors.

Being a judge means never having to say you’re sorry… for banging someone else’s wife. Because if the cuckolded husband gets angry at you, just accuse him of threatening a judge.

The judges, who have apologized for their behavior, are lucky to be keeping their jobs. Some dissenting members of the disciplinary commission wanted both jurists stripped of their offices — but we’ve seen quite enough disrobing from Judge Steiner and Judge Woodward.

2 California judges who had sex in their chambers disciplined [San Francisco Chronicle]
Two Judges Draw Censures for Courthouse Sexual Affairs [The Recorder]

Earlier: Iowa Judge Warns Prospective Clerks Not To Expect A ‘Balanced’ Life
Judge of the Day: A State Judge’s Alleged Affair and Baby Mama Drama Exposed — Via Incriminating Texts

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