The sexual harassment scandal that led to the resignation of once-respected Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski rocked the legal world. It forced the legal community to admit that, despite the fact that lawyers and federal judges are supposed to “know better,” the industry is ripe for abuse. One troubling tradition — and one that Judge Kozinski seems to have exploited — is the tradition of total confidentiality between judges and their clerks.
After the scandal broke, Chief Justice John Roberts called for a working group to detail the steps necessary to stamp out sexual harassment in the federal judiciary. He’s been vocal in his support of the work needed in this effort:
“I have great confidence in the men and women who comprise the federal judiciary. I am sure that the overwhelming number have no tolerance for harassment and share the view that victims must have a clear and immediate recourse to effective remedies. The work of this group will help our branch take the necessary steps to ensure an exemplary workplace for every court employee.”
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The group members have met twice since their mission was created, and yesterday released an interim report on their recommendations. As reported by Law.com, the following initiatives are currently underway:
- A session on sexual harassment during the ethics training for newly appointed judges in February.
- In-person programs on judiciary workforce policies and procedures and workplace sexual harassment were added to the curricula at Federal Judicial Center programs for chief district and chief bankruptcy judges.
- Improvement of law clerk and employee orientations. with increased training on workplace conduct rights, responsibilities and recourse.
- Examining and clarifying the Codes of Conduct for judges and employees.
- Reviewing the confidentiality provisions in several employee/law clerk handbooks to clarify that nothing in the provisions prevents the filing of a complaint.
- Clarifying the data that the judiciary collects about judicial misconduct complaints to add a category for any complaints filed relating to sexual misconduct. According to the administrative office, of the 1,303 misconduct complaints filed in fiscal year 2016, more than 1,200 were filed by dissatisfied litigants and prison inmates. No complaints were filed by law clerks or judiciary employees and no misconduct complaints related to sexual harassment.
The working group will release its final report in May 2018.
Reaction to the recommendations has been positive. Jaime Santos, a Goodwin Procter attorney and former Ninth Circuit clerk that has been vocal in the push for reforms, said:
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“I’m pleased to see how seriously the judiciary is taking this issue and that it is considering a wide range of policy and process changes to address sexual harassment. I, along with Kendall Turner and a current law clerk, met with the working group about 10 days ago and provided numerous detailed recommendations, many of which I am happy to see on the initial list circulated by the judiciary today. We look forward to continuing to work with the working group as they gather information. weigh options, and develop an implementation plan. I hope that the working group affords sufficient time to the process to ensure that it understands the full scope of the issue and the barriers to reporting that must be overcome for any changes to be effective. I also encourage the working group to continue this type of transparency as it completes its important work.”
It’s important that even though Judge Kozinski is gone from the bench, the work of this group continues.
Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).