The judges would be responsible for mistreatment even if they retired or resigned, under the new bill: NPR

High -level legislator introduces legislation which aims to increase responsibility for federal judges accused of misconduct and abuse.

The new bill of representative Hank Johnson, D-GA., Would verify that in suspense surveys on judicial misconduct Continue, even if the judges under study retire or resign.

Johnson tries to fill a escape that federal judges used to receive retirement benefits despite credible accusations of acts reprehensible by employees.

“Judges and courts should not be authorized to sweep away bad behavior under the carpet,” said Johnson, the best democrat of the Panel of the Judicial Committee of the Chamber on the courts. “This is a first step necessary to ensure that our courts are places of integrity and safe for legal employees.”

Its legislation, called transparency and responsibility in compliance with the standards of the Magistracy Act (Trust), follows an NPR survey which discovered serious problems with the federal judicial system to report problems in the workplace.

It is not clear if the legislation would go anywhere in a congress controlled by the GOP. But he highlights current issues in the federal court system.

Two judges appeared in the NPR report, José Antonio Fusted in Porto Rico and judge Alex Kozinski in California, retired with benefits when he was under internal investigation.

“The proper functioning of our courts depends on a responsible judicial power,” said Debra Perlin, vice-president of policies at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). “The judiciary must investigate the potential violations of public confidence, and we urge the congress to adopt this important legislation to demand that it does exactly.”

Some 30,000 people work for the judicial branch, including in the chambers of judges, the offices of the clerks and in public defenders and probation offices.

Federal courts are exempt from title VII from the 1964 civil rights law, complicating a path for clerics and other legal employees to ask for justice when confronted with the abuse of judges. The courts say they have made significant changes to their internal system for reports since the #MeToo movement emerged seven years ago.

“We believe that the changes put in place in the past seven years have had a positive impact on the judicial workplace, a belief that has been validated by two independent studies,” said a spokesperson for the administrative office of American courts in a written declaration earlier this year. “We continue to make improvements as part of our efforts to promote an exemplary workplace for our employees.”

In March, the courts published the results of a national study in the workplace, where almost two thirds of respondents said they had not experienced inappropriate behavior at work.

But the results have also raised questions as to whether workers feel safe using the own tools of the courts to report abuse. Only 42% of anonymous respondents said they would signal work fault. And others who used the declaration system said they were not satisfied.

The courts are considering more changes in their system, in particular giving employees a means To recover legal costs and damage.