Comments on: Pennsylvania Chief Justice Threatens Parties and Lawyers for Filing Action Alleging Judicial Misconduct http://jonathanturley.org/2008/05/27/pennsylvania-chief-justice-threatens-parties-and-lawyers-for-filing-action-alleging-judicial-misconduct/ Res ipsa loquitur ("The thing itself speaks") Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:06:09 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: California Blogger Arresed for Saying that Singapore Judge is “Prostituting Herself” « JONATHAN TURLEY http://jonathanturley.org/2008/05/27/pennsylvania-chief-justice-threatens-parties-and-lawyers-for-filing-action-alleging-judicial-misconduct/#comment-14169 California Blogger Arresed for Saying that Singapore Judge is “Prostituting Herself” « JONATHAN TURLEY Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:52:41 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=1932#comment-14169 [...] outrages in this country where judges abusively seek to discipline lawyers who criticized them, here and here, the notion of criminal punishment magnifies the threat to free speech. What I have not [...] [...] outrages in this country where judges abusively seek to discipline lawyers who criticized them, here and here, the notion of criminal punishment magnifies the threat to free speech. What I have not [...]

]]> By: Susan http://jonathanturley.org/2008/05/27/pennsylvania-chief-justice-threatens-parties-and-lawyers-for-filing-action-alleging-judicial-misconduct/#comment-13853 Susan Tue, 27 May 2008 12:55:25 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=1932#comment-13853 For me as a concerned citizen, any judge who goes as far as to threaten people, be they lawyers or not, for officially reporting actions of judicial misconduct, merits being investigated. Next to a prosecutor, judges have positions of serious power. That's why judicial commissions exist, to investigate judges reported to the commission for allegations of misconduct, and possibly obstruction of justice. When a judge threatens people for filing such allegations, any reasonable person has to wonder WHY that judge found it necessary. Isn't it one of the Judicial Canons of Ethics that "judges must avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety at all times? In VA, I believe that is Canon #2 or #3. I would think that threatening people falls into the "impropriety" category, in any state. For me as a concerned citizen, any judge who goes as far as to threaten people, be they lawyers or not, for officially reporting actions of judicial misconduct, merits being investigated. Next to a prosecutor, judges have positions of serious power. That’s why judicial commissions exist, to investigate judges reported to the commission for allegations of misconduct, and possibly obstruction of justice.

When a judge threatens people for filing such allegations, any reasonable person has to wonder WHY that judge found it necessary. Isn’t it one of the Judicial Canons of Ethics that “judges must avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety at all times? In VA, I believe that is Canon #2 or #3. I would think that threatening people falls into the “impropriety” category, in any state.

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