- On Aug. 4, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled the Boy Scouts of
America was a "public accommodation" in violation of the state's
anti-discrimination laws protecting homosexuals. If not overruled by the
U.S. Supreme Court, the Scouts will have to admit homosexuals as members
and leaders. - On Aug. 24, a federal judge in Ohio issued an injunction against the
state's school voucher program, saying it violated the separation of
church and state. - On Aug. 25, a Phoenix, Ariz., judge ordered a 14-year-old girl to be
taken out of the state for a late-term abortion. Arizona currently bans
abortions after the 20th week.
These cases and hundreds more are the reason Baptist minister Ronald
Branson founded Jail 4 Judges, a Los Angeles-based group seeking to pass
the Judicial Accountability Initiative Law (JAIL) in California next
year.
"Through my experience," said Branson, "I found that the judicial
system is completely deteriorating so that justice is a thing that's
almost extinct."
Branson must gather 670,816 valid signatures by Jan. 6, 2000, before
his initiative will be placed on the ballot. He hopes to obtain more
than a million names.
One of Branson's allies is attorney Gary Zerman who works as a
volunteer with Jail 4 Judges. Zerman, who has practiced law for 15
years, is disturbed by the corruption and lack of accountability in the
California judiciary.
As an example of corruption, Zerman points to the case of Judge
George Trammel, a former Pomona Superior Court judge, who resigned after
it was learned he had coerced sexual favors from the wife of a criminal
defendant. Trammel has not been prosecuted by the county or by the
former or current state attorneys-general.
Zerman also cites a 1996 San Diego Superior Court corruption case in
which three judges and a lawyer were convicted of taking bribes or
influence peddling. Since neither county nor state would prosecute,
federal prosecutors had to do the job under the RICO (Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) statute. Former San Diego
Judge Michael Greer admitted taking $75,000 in bribes in exchange for
having given a lawyer preferential treatment. Greer was placed on
suspension after pleading guilty. Judges G. Dennis Adams, James A.
Malkus and attorney Patrick R. Frega were convicted under the RICO
statute. But in June of this year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
overturned racketeering charges against Adams and Malkus, claiming the
jury had been given inaccurate instructions. All of these men have
remained free since 1996 as they appeal their cases.
What about the state's Commission on Judicial Performance, which is
supposed to investigate and deal with judicial corruption? More often
than not, says Zerman, it simply fails to do the job. "Just look at
CJP's '10-Year Summary' of enforcement actions. It's amazing the number
of goose eggs there are. The system is not holding judges accountable."
The "10-Year Summary of Commission Activity" shows, for example, that
the Commission reviewed 1,174 cases of judicial misconduct. Of those,
1,001 were closed after an initial review. Ten judges received private
admonishment; four received public admonishment; one was publicly
censured; two resigned during the investigation and zero were removed
from the bench for misconduct.
During the years 1988 through 1997, only seven judges were removed
out of a total of 9,529 cases of judicial misconduct and/or corruption.
What will JAIL accomplish? If passed, the Judicial Accountability
Initiative Law would remove the immunity judges currently have from
civil liability when they are found guilty of:
- Deliberate violations of the law
- Fraud
- Conspiracy
- Intentional violation of due process of law
- Deliberate disregard of material facts
- Judicial acts without jurisdiction
- Unreasonable delay of a case
- Deliberate constitutional violations
The law would establish three statewide 25-member grand juries that
would be empowered to investigate, indict and sentence judges for
criminal misconduct. The grand juries would have the power to remove any
judge after he or she has been convicted of three adverse decisions (the
"three strikes" rule). Under the initiative, lawyers and judges would be
barred from being grand jury members.
Although the State Department of Finance estimates it will cost $17
million a year to operate these grand juries, part of the cost would be
offset by another part of the JAIL initiative: It would reduce all
judges' salaries by 2.5 percent and cut in half the retirement benefits
of judges who are removed under the "three strikes" rule.
Huntington Beach lawyer Phil Putman is helping promote the JAIL
initiative, but believes California judges will rule it
unconstitutional. He has more hope that federal judges will approve it
once it is passed by the voters.
California Judges Association (CJA) lobbyist Mike Belote said his
group probably won't take a formal position on JAIL until it qualifies
for the ballot, but he believes it violates free speech, due process and
other rights of judges. "It's so full of constitutional infirmity that
you could almost pick any section of the Constitution and this
initiative violates it."
Branson is counting on the CJA and other pro-judges groups to provide
him with the publicity he needs to garner support. "Once we get them to
holler 'ouch,' they've done our advertisements for us," said Branson. In
the meantime, Branson has established a website to promote the JAIL
initiative. The JAIL address
is: 11304 Chandler Blvd., United 207, North Hollywood, California 91603;
phone: (818) 386-5804.
Attorney Gary Zerman says Jail 4 Judges is planning a series of
rallies or protests to draw attention to judicial corruption in
California. Announcements of these events will be posted on the Jail 4
Judges website.
Ronald Branson is not alone in his concern over judicial activism and
corruption of the legal system. The Free Congress Foundation, founded by
Paul Weyrich, has established a Judicial Selection Monitoring
Project to
track activist judges and to promote judicial restraint. The JSMP notes
that activist judges typically: change the meaning of the Constitution's
provisions, substitute their personal judgment for the law, change the
meaning of statutes and use extraneous considerations to avoid the
result of criminal statutes. JSMP has also organized the Coalition for
Judicial Restraint, a grass-roots lobbying group whose purpose is to
oppose aggressively the confirmation of activist judges to the bench.
The Eagle Forum, founded by Phyllis Schlafly, has recently
established Court Watch,
headed by Virginia
Armstrong, legal studies professor at Hardin-Simmons University in
Abilene, Texas. Court Watch raises public awareness about
unconstitutional court decisions and works to hold members of Congress
accountable for their votes on judicial appointments.
The Family Research Council publishes Legal Watch,
a weekly fax and online newsletter edited by
attorney Jan LaRue that tracks examples of judicial tyranny.