On March 12th, the Judicial Conference of the United States, the federal judiciary’s national policymaking body, adopted new ethics rules that make clear that sexual harassment is banned, further providing that judges and judicial employees have an affirmative obligation to report if they know of such misconduct.
These new ethics rules came in response to recommendations made by a working group, formed after the resignation of Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Fifteen women accused Kozinski of inappropriate sexual comments and conduct prior to his resignation.
Judiciary employees now can report instances misconduct to the new Office of Judicial Integrity. Further, the judiciary will take the lead in conducting investigations of misconduct. Specifically, Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit acknowledged that “[Judges] think we can police our own.”
According to the rules, the reporting obligation applies when a judge or judicial employee has reliable information about judicial misconduct. The new rules also make clear that confidentiality should never be an obstacle to reporting judicial misconduct or disability. Moreover, unwanted, offensive, or abusive sexual misconduct is explicitly banned, as well as “egregious and hostile” treatment of workers. Additionally, retaliation for reporting misconduct is prohibited.
These changes are incorporated into codes of conduct for the federal judiciary and judicial employees, but they do not apply to the U.S. Supreme Court. As such, Justice Kagan told a congressional committee that Chief Justice Roberts is studying the possibility of introducing a code of conduct that applies only to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Read the press release explaining the federal judiciary rule changes here.
