Ways to address judicial misconduct

I would like to remind my readers of the fourth, the underused, way to address judicial misconduct - the criminal proceedings.

There are 4 ways to address judicial misconduct.

1/ A lawsuit against a judge.  Most lawsuits against judges are dismissed on the grounds of absolute judicial immunity.  Even though, in my opinion, the concept of absolute judicial immunity for malicious and corrupt acts on the bench, including deliberate constitutional violations, is unlawful and unconstitutional, courts religiously apply it, dismissing practically all lawsuits against judges.

There are restrictions to judicial immunity (declared restrictions), but they are not observed by courts.

Courts that created the concept of absolute judicial immunity for malicious and corrupt acts of the bench at the time the judge was performing his or her judicial duties, change that law on the go, to stretch it to apply to any situation that comes in front of them.  After all, by protecting a judge sued for misconduct in office, courts are protecting themselves, and self-interest outweighs all other considerations.

2/  A complaint to disciplinary authorities.  Absolute judicial immunity was given to judges because allegedly alternative remedies, such as discipline, are available.

Well, first of all, courts have ruled that citizens do not have "a justiciable interest" in prosecution or non-prosecution of anybody - be it:

*  criminal prosecution of private citizens;
* disciplinary prosecution of attorneys, or
* disciplinary prosecution of judges

If there is no justiciable interest, judicial discipline cannot be called a legitimate alternative remedy to a lawsuit.

Yet, this thought is so radical that most judges will reject it (remember, most judges are old conservative people who consider as frivolous and sanctionable anything that was not taught in their churches).  Of course, unless one tries, one will never know whether a certain theory will win in court.  But one must have courage to do that and be prepared for a backlash.  Judiciary does not yield its positions easily.

Also, complaints to judicial disciplinary authorities may be futile.  My experience with the State of New York Commission for Judicial Conduct, review of what is discussed in the social media, and my review of what happens with complaints to similar authorities in other states, suggests that the absolute majority of complaints against state judges are tossed.

And, federal courts do not have separate disciplinary authorities for judges.  They "police themselves", with predictable results - courts self-servingly created rules that prohibit even review of complaints about judicial misconduct on the bench, re-channeling such complaints through appeals only, even though the same courts dishonestly continue to toss civil rights lawsuits on judicial immunity grounds that presupposes availability of judicial discipline for misconduct in office, during court proceedings.

So, complaining about a judge, while needs to be done, as a due diligence step for the record, may achieve little, if anything, in the practical sense.

3/ An appeal.  With judges busy engaged in book-writing, all-expenses-paid trips, sitting on various boards and committees, they hardly have time to diligently review records, and allow most of decisions to be made, as it seems, to the student interns who draft those decisions.  Since student interns have no experience in life or law, and draft to certain policy guidelines from judges, and those policy guidelines apparently presuppose tossing any claims of judicial bias and misconduct, not to create a precedent that can bite the judge who created it right back, chances to win against a bias judge on appeal are nil.

4/ Yet, nobody cancelled shaming, requests for a criminal prosecution of a judge involved in misrepresenting court records and colluding with politically connected attorneys, and more shaming on social media.

Judges are sensitive to criticism.  They may not allow cameras in the courtroom in order to be able to catch their misconduct live, but they are afraid to lose votes and donors in the next re-election campaign if they are shamed in the social media too much.

And, there is no immunity from criminal prosecution.

And, if criminal authorities refuse to prosecute, criminal prosecutors are also sensitive to lose votes and campaign donors, even more than judges (because prosecutor's terms in office are shorter than judicial terms in office) and are also sensitive to shaming in the media.

So, where all other areas to bring about judicial accountability are blocked, and we need to bring about changes now and address specific cases of judicial misconduct now, criminal complaints against judges accompanied by shaming of proven misconduct in the media may help a lot.

You only need a lot of courage to do that.  Judges are a vengeful and powerful bunch.  Yet, the power of the social media is that, once you start publishing your instances of judicial misconduct, other people may publish theirs, and you will then know what you will not otherwise learn from the Commissions for Judicial Conduct, because there complaints about a judge are secret.

And, the more meritorious complaints are brought against the same judge on the same recurring issues of misconduct by different people in different cases, the more likely it is that authorities will wake up and take action.

You know, there is a saying "little strokes fell great oaks".  So, let's try and clean up the dirty black robes.  One by one.  Bit by bit.  Nobody will do it for us.