by Kathleen Russell
Court reform advocates from across the
state are expected to weigh in with lawmakers on Monday, March 28th
about an accountability crisis in the California court system. The Assembly Budget Subcommittee 5 hearing will begin at 2:30pm in Room 437 of the state capitol building with
a presentation about the state Commission on Judicial Performance’s
complaint process, followed by a discussion about the numerous problems
plaguing the agency and some possible solutions.
Joe Sweeney, CEO of Court Reform LLC, a
San Francisco Bay Area-based advocacy firm that focuses on improving the
fairness, transparency and efficiency of the judicial process, will
testify about a detailed report he just released comparing California’s judicial oversight commission with those of Arizona, Texas, and New York.
“I was shocked by the disparities in the
investigation rates, discipline rates, and budget efficiencies,”
Sweeney said. “These are not small differences. California’s commission
is a severe, negative outlier by 200-300% or more across the board. The
data suggests that hundreds of judges who currently sit on California’s
benches would have potentially been removed by the commissions of other
states for misconduct,” he said.
Rama Diop, an African immigrant mother
whose well-documented complaint about a Marin County judge was referred
to the Commission by the California Governor and Attorney General almost
two years ago, has been denied a venue for resolving her child custody
case while her judicial complaint has languished at the Commission for
almost 22 months. The Commission’s website indicates that it generally
takes an average of 4.15 months to resolve a complaint. “They say the
complaint is under investigation, but I have no explanation for the
delay, and no indication of how much longer this is going to take,” says
Diop. “Meanwhile, I have no enforceable custody order, and no way to
get one, because I am trapped in this judge’s court while the CJP drags
its feet.”
The Commission’s website explains that
its mandate is “to protect the public, enforce rigorous standards of
judicial conduct and maintain public confidence in the integrity and
independence of the judicial system.” Yet in its own report detailing
the complaints it received from 1990-2009, the Commission admits that
only 1.45% of all complaints filed by litigants, their friends and
family (i.e., the public) resulted in any judicial discipline.
“The CJP is failing in its duty to
protect the public, and it is time for an audit and an overhaul,” says
California attorney Barbara Kauffman. “Throwing out 98.6% of complaints
made by litigants, without explanation, and waiting two years to act on a
single complaint, puts the complaining litigant, and all other
litigants forced to appear before a problematic judge, at risk. As we
all learned from the Pennsylvania Kids For Cash tragedy, bad judges can
harm thousands of parents and children in two years’ time. The public
deserves better than this.”
A large number of advocates wearing
bright red “Stop Court Crimes” t-shirts are expected to attend the
hearing and voice their support for better oversight of the Commission
and more accountability for the entire judicial branch.
The hearing will be live webcast here: http://assembly.ca.gov/dailyfile and http://assembly.ca.gov/audioandtv
The hearing agenda can be found here: http://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sub5publicsafety
A brief memo explaining the lack of remedies for removing a judge available to the public: here
Click here to read the report comparing judicial discipline agencies: here
Full Article & Source:
New Report Alleges Commission on Judicial Performance Doesn’t Measure Up
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