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Essential to the rule of law is the public's respect for the
courts. The judges, lawyers and others in the judicial system,
in turn, cannot earn or maintain that respect unless they
avoid not only the reality of misconduct, but its mere appearance.
It is a lofty standard they must meet, but not an unreasonable
one, and it is violated when judges go on what amounts to
expense-paid vacations, courtesy of special interest groups.
The issue became hot news when Supreme Court Justice Antonin
Scalia accepted a private duck-hunting trip with, among others,
Vice President Dick Cheney. But this was hardly the only instance
of a possible conflict of interest involving the federal judiciary.
The Community Rights Counsel, a public interest law firm based
in Washington, recently documented several violations of this
bedrock rule. Particularly disquieting was the firm's discovery
that three federal appeals court judges - none, fortunately,
from Wisconsin - serve on the board of directors of one special
interest group, the Foundation for Research on Economics and
the Environment (FREE), based in Bozeman, Mont.
Judicial codes ordinarily permit judges to become active in
organizations dedicated to the improvement of the law, such
as bar associations. It is difficult to see how any fair-minded
person could object to that sort of activity.
FREE says it exists, however, to advance "conservation
and environmental values by applying modern science and America's
founding ideals to policy debates." FREE pays the expenses
of judges and others to attend seminars at resorts and ranches
in Montana and elsewhere. These activities may be perfectly
lawful. But there is no doubt that they are intended to advance
the organization's point of view.
That is why the judges who attend these work-and-play seminars
are violating at least the spirit of the legal canons that
proscribe even the appearance of impropriety. To serve on
the board of a special interest group, especially one closely
allied with so controversial and complex an issue as environmental
protection, is especially abhorrent.
It is fair enough to argue that judges should inform themselves
about matters that are likely to come before them, including
environmental issues. A courtroom must never become an ivory
tower. There is an organization devoted to judicial education,
however: the Federal Judicial Center, which describes itself
as "the research and education agency of the federal
judicial system." The center, among other things, conducts
education and training for federal judges and others.
Common sense indicates, and the canons of judicial ethics
seem to require, that judges who wish to become better informed
about the world in which they live should avail themselves
of the center's various programs. And if the center doesn't
have enough money to provide this sort of off-the-bench education,
Congress should appropriate more. The independence and integrity
of the judiciary are too important to support on the cheap.
From the April 14, 2004 editions of the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel
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