“Undeserved Disrepute” For Elected Judges
July 21, 2009
I’ve got to applaud our friends over at JudgesOnMerit.org for lifting the rock on the all-too-often, way-too-cozy relationship between personal injury lawyers and the judges who rule on their cases. In a post today, Shira Goodman reports that New Orleans Judge Joan Benge could be kicked off the bench after her “virtual admissions” that she awarded $4,275 to the plaintiff in a car accident case because of her “affinity” for a trial lawyer who had contributed about $2,300 to her campaign.
“I’m struggling with it,” [Judge Benge told a fellow judge], “because if it wasn’t for Venezia, you know, I’d probably zero it.”
The Judiciary Committee which investigated Judge Benge concluded:
“It’s not clear what her reason for making the award was. What is clear is that the award was not based on Judge Benge’s assessment of the evidence in the case.”
So far, we have a pretty clear cut case of a judge who seems to have acted improperly based on an impartial investigation and is facing appropriate discipline because of her actions. Good work, Shira … but wait.
In his dissent in Caperton, Chief Justice Roberts warned that the endless series of bias charges the ruling would prompt against judges “will itself bring our judicial system into undeserved disrepute, and diminish the confidence of the American people in the fairness and integrity of their courts.” Shira Goodman jumps in headfirst, transforming an individual instance of judicial misconduct into a blanket indictment of the integrity of every elected judge: “it’s not the amount of the donation,” Goodman writes, “it’s the fact of the donation.” (my emphasis) Talk about “underserved disrepute.”
It’s bad enough using a relatively petty judicial scandal to condemn hundreds of fair, honest judges who have been chosen through the good opinion of the people they serve. It’s even worse to use the scandal as an excuse not to punish the bad judge, but to deprive ordinary citizens of their constitutional right to elect their public servants on the bench, which is the real goal of judgesonmerit.org.
Posted by Dan Pero in the categories: Judicial Elections
2 Responses to ““Undeserved Disrepute” For Elected Judges”
[...] like the case…” A Louisiana judge finds herself in trouble (via Judges on Merit and Dan Pero, who draw somewhat different [...]
The named judges preside in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. New Orleans is in Orleans Parish. Please do not taint our judges (Jefferson Parish) with the misdeeds of Orleans Parish judges, who have their own brand of corruption.
The event that led up to this story happened very early on in Judge Benge’s judicial careen. From all accounts she has done a much better job since then.
Regardless all of this begs the question as to why judges are still elected, but sadly answers the question as well.