POSC 130g 1st Edition Lecture 11 Current Lecture Removal of Federal Judges cont Goodwin Lu professor at Berkley and was nominated by Obama Some people thought he was too liberal and eventually withdrew his nomination Some thought it was odd that he had written vouchers for schools and public policies that might be considered conservative He was a brilliant jurist and professor at the law school This is an example of someone who had too far ideology He was then appointed to be on the California Supreme Court He will have the opportunity to serve as a judge Roosevelt s court packing plan to save the New Deal policies he wanted to add justices to position to get more judges on the bench with his own views Congress wasn t okay with that Reganism value packing appoint judges that shared his views Jimmy Carter known for diversifying the bench sometimes criticized as micromanaging and not as powerful as some of the other presidents He appointed more judges of different backgrounds than any other president He tried to be more inclusive in terms of backgrounds Does it matter to have judges of different backgrounds on the bench That is different from a quota system In the state system there is tremendous variation Commissions on judicial performance have some enforcement powers but pretty limited Elections Impeachment system is what is used federal judges enjoy life tenure and serve until death or chose to step down Judge Harry Claiborne judge on US District Court in Nevada tax evasion convicted and imprisoned in 1984 He was removed from the Senate but didn t vote on disqualifying him from holding another federal office He was authorized by the Supreme Court of Nevada to resume the private practice of law after serving seventeen years in jail Judge Alcee L Hastings first black judge in Florida and impeached on 17 counts to receive a bribe He disclosed private information He was impeached Judge G Thomas Porteus Impeached and was the 8th judge to be removed He accepted gifts from attorneys and luxuries A professor represented him from George Washing University He was convicted and the Senate voted to bar him from holding a private practice Judge Abe Fortas He was the judge that had been the lawyer for Gideon He was going to be chosen by Lyndon Johnson to be the Chief Justice Because of some questions about ethics it caused him to be stepped down Notorious Misconduct 1 Sexual assault Judge David Lanier from Tennessee assaulted a dozen women and was a predator towards female employees and visitors to the courthouse He thought he was above the law and he was prosecuted for 11 counts of sexual assault The jury convicted him on five counts and the trial judge gave him a 25 year sentence The US Court of Appeals in Cincinnati reversed that and the US Supreme Court reversed that and the FBI had to chase him because he ran away US Supreme Court said that prosecuting the judge had not violated the fair warning for the judge 2 Sexual harassment Judge James Stevens Judge in Northern California handed the court reporter a over large zucchini She thought this was offensive he fired her and she filed against him a sexual harassment suit for 660 000 They settled the case for over half a million dollars This didn t help the reputation of the judiciary 3 Porn on a website Judge Alex Kozinski chief justice for the Court of Appeals in the 9 th circuit He posted sexual things on his website that was publicly accessible It was a joke about a donkey but some people thought it was pornographic It was on a private website He liked to distribute jokes to the people that worked with him Should a judge have free speech rights and be able to do this stuff Should judges adhere to a higher standards It is irrelevant to his position as the judge the lawyers said that He also developed a friendship with an inmate that wanted to be a writer They developed a correspondence which led the California Attorney General to conduct an investigation People thought if he was friendly with someone on death row if he would be biased about not giving capital punishment to someone Normally the investigation was conducted by the head of the circuit but he was the head of the circuit Ultimately he was warned that he should be more careful 4 Drugs Judge Lawrence Kords judge in Florida who was smoking Marijuana in a park He cut a deal in the misdemeanor case the commission looked into if he was using the drug frequently The commission that looked into this was expected to advice the Florida Supreme Court to remove him from the bench He was involved in the public eye with a decision on Anna Nicole Smith s daughter He publicly apologized for the embarrassment he caused the judiciary He was given a paid leave The NAACP filed a complaint saying he made mean comments to litigants suggesting he was under the influence Some people thought he was not fit to serve as a judge Judges shouldn t interact with lawyers outside of the courtroom if they have a case with him or her Do Judges Have Free Speech 1 Public commentary on case Judge Howard Broadman on sterilization decision The girl beat her children while pregnant with another child She was sentenced to prison for doing something against her sentence The judge required her to have birth control instead of going to prison This was unusual to have someone go on birth control Then he had a press conference about why he wanted to do this He was then sentenced for commenting to the media about this unorthodox decision He said he had freedom of speech but the California Supreme Court said he should not have free speech He was just required to do a written apology 2 Campaign for office Republican Party of Minnesota v White 2002 Could candidates make statements for the judiciary There was a rule against candidates making statements that were about cases and issues that were likely to come in front of the court Gregory Scolea lost three times for running for state Supreme Court This principal of judicial ethics violated the judicial right of freedom speech Justice Scolea got in trouble but The announced clause validated the first amendment and they were allowed to speak 3 Judge made discrimination comment about being homophobic as a private citizen in a letter he wrote to the newspaper He signed it with his name and wrote about his personal views on the rights of gays and lesbians He was very religious and it was published in the paper The radio reporter called the judge to talk about the letter and the