Injustice
anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere.
—The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr.
“In a government by the
people and for the people,
it is to the people that
accountability must be enforced.”
So says JAIL4Judges, a national
grassroots organization
seeking to restore accountability
by the judiciary.
It is no secret to anyone
who has had contact with
them that the courts of
this country and their officers
are saturated with corruption.
Anyone expecting to get
justice there is destined
for a galling disappointment.
Michael Fox, a commissioner
in Butler County, Ohio,
wrote of some of his county’s
court system in 2003: “The
Domestic Relations and Juvenile
Courts of Butler County
foster a culture of secrecy,
fear and judicial abuse
that violates the most fundamental
and sacred rights guaranteed
by our nation’s Constitution—the
right of due process of
its laws. Those who are
most directly affected by
decisions of these courts—parties
to the actions—are routinely
excluded from court proceedings
and deliberations, told
to wait outside the hearing
room in a hallway while
their lives, personal property,
children and homes are divided
up by strangers.
“The world of juvenile
and domestic relations is
a secret world where the
courts treat public scrutiny
with open contempt and hostility.
The pretense for this secrecy
is to protect families from
embarrassing disclosures
about their personal and
private lives. The real
function, however, is to
protect the court from public
scrutiny.”
Judge Barbara Gorman of
Montgomery County, Ohio,
went to the heart of the
issue. She said: “Public
trust depends on the openness
and accountability of courts
and their proceedings. Access
serves as a check against
misconduct, ineptitude,
and corruption in criminal
trials and promotes public
confidence that justice
is being fairly administered
by judges and prosecutors.
Institutional integrity
is at risk whenever openness
yields to secrecy, no matter
how well-intentioned.”
Dr. Les Sachs, writer,
journalist and expert on
legal corruption in this
country, commented: “The
reality is that the United
States of America, which
proclaims itself the ‘land
of freedom,’ has the most
dishonest, dangerous and
crooked legal system of
any developed nation. Legal
corruption is covering America
like a blanket.”
In Winnebago County, if
you want a record of your
court proceeding, you must
hire a court stenographer,
at an extremely high cost
for the average citizen;
the system does not provide
it. And don’t even try to
get a copy of the rules
of the court, it is top
secret.
JAIL4Judges is fighting
back. This coming fall,
in South Dakota, it will
launch a ballot initiative
aimed at curbing judicial
abuse of the doctrine of
so-called “judicial immunity.”
The initiative will be presented
for ballot positions in
all the other states as
well. The people have had
enough.
JAIL4Judges seeks to stop
deliberate violation of
the law; fraud or conspiracy;
intentional violation of
due process; disregard of
material facts; judicial
acts without jurisdiction;
blocking the lawful conclusion
of a case; and any deliberate
violation of state or federal
Constitutions.
Just how accountable is
the civil justice system
today? What protections
do consumers have against
unethical lawyers? Take
a look at a few statistics.
According to the American
Bar Association, 121,000
complaints were filed against
the nation’s 1.2 million
lawyers in 2002. Of those
complaints, only 3.5 percent
resulted in formal discipline,
and only 1 percent led to
disbarment. Some 96.5 percent
of these 121,000 complaints
ended with NO discipline
or informal slaps on the
wrist in the form of “private
sanctions.”
One study, carried out
in 50 states (including
the District of Columbia),
showed that lawyers make
up about two-thirds of the
panels adjudicating attorney
discipline complaints. The
same study found that in
12 states, lawyers comprise
100 percent of the discipline
panels.
A national survey by the
Columbia Law School revealed
that two of every three
Americans don’t believe
lawyers are even “somewhat
honest.”
In 2003, a poll by CNN/USA
Today/Gallup, found 84 percent
of Americans do not believe
lawyers have “high ethical
standards.” The National
Law Journal reported 69
percent of Americans think
that lawyers are more focused
on making money than on
serving their clients.
And what about the judges?
How does the public perceive
the civil justice system?
A study made by Justice
at Stake asked, “How would
you rate the job being done
by judges in your state?”
The group reported more
than a third of those surveyed
answered “fair” or “poor.”
The same study asked respondents
how well the term “independent”
described their judges,
they answered “not too well”
or “not well at all” in
more than 34 percent of
the cases.
Clearly the American legal
system needs a good and
thorough housecleaning.
As JAIL4Judges rightly concludes,
accountability is the only
solution.
They propose, through their
JAIL4Judges bill, to establish
special grand juries to
weigh the evidence in cases
of complaint against a judge.
Members of these juries
would be ordinary Americans
who have no links to other
branches of government and
are not members of the Bar.
They would function in a
case only after all other
remedies have been exhausted.
These special grand juries
would hold the power to
strip away judicial immunity
from judges who are targets
of complaints of criminal
acts, and they will be able
to investigate, indict and
initiate criminal prosecution
of wayward judges.
These juries would be able
to address such issues as
ignored laws, ignored evidence,
eminent domain abuse, confiscation
of property without due
process, probate fraud,
secret dockets, falsifying
court records, misapplication
of law and other types of
abuses.
That these conditions and
abuses exist in Winnebago
County and northern Illinois
is no secret. Many have
come to this newspaper with
tales of mistreatment and
deception at the hands of
local judicial circuits.
Ohio Commissioner Fox asks:
“Where is the outrage? The
answer: The outrage is muted
by an incestuous network
of insiders who are spared
the crucible of public scrutiny
by a system that operates
behind locked doors, disciplined
by a real fear of being
punished if the members
ever break ranks and rail
against the injustice they
see daily.”
Lawyers in Winnebago County
have told this newspaper
if they go against the system,
the judges and other lawyers
will pound them in almost
every subsequent case, whenever
the slightest opportunity
exists. Everyone gets in
line, sooner or later.
It’s up to us to change
this shameful situation.
For more information about
how to go about it, contact
www.jail4judges.org.
From the Feb. 22-28, 2006,
issue