Claims of California Pro Pers Vindicated: Prominent Federal Judge Verifies Institutionalized Pro Per Bias in US Courts

ABA Journal: Posner: Most judges regard pro se litigants as 'kind of trash not worth the time.'

Chicago Daily Law Bulletin: Posner says friction on 7th Circuit bench led to his retirement.

Above the Law: The Backstory Behind Judge Richard Posner's Retirement.

New York Times: An Exit Interview With Richard Posner, Judicial Provocateur. 

Above the Law: Judge Posner, Uncensored: 'I Don't Really Care What People Think.'

Cleveland State Law Review: Socioeconomic Bias in the Judiciary. 

Five Year Update: Santa Clara County Judges Responsible for Probate Court Scandal Remain Unpunished, Unaccountable

County judges must impose tighter rules for managing vulnerable residents' estates:

Disqualification Motion Allegations Include Serial Code of Judicial Ethics Violations Against Judge James Towery

Judge James E. Towery

An exhaustive, 57-page motion to disqualify controversial Santa Clara County Judge James Towery recently was filed in a family law dissolution case. A court whistleblower provided a copy of the filing to Commission on Judicial Performance Report. The motion is embedded at the end of this post.

The motion includes allegations that Towery engaged in multiple violations of the California Code of Judicial Ethics, and conveyed gender and other forms of bias against Susan Bassi, the respondent in the divorce case. Court whistleblowers assert and have documented that flagrant gender bias against divorcing wives who helped start or run family businesses is common in the Silicon Valley family court system.

California Judicial Branch and CJP Dogged by Controversy in 2016 - Year End News Wrap: CJP and State Auditor Initiate Court Battle, More...

Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye obstructs
State Bar reform.

State Auditor Files Response to CJP Lawsuit Trying to Block Legislature Ordered Audit of Judge Oversight Agency

"I don't know what they are afraid of." Attorney Myron Moskovitz

From the Daily Journal:

Attorneys for the California State Auditor submitted a response Monday to a writ filed last month by the Commission on Judicial Performance challenging the auditor's jurisdiction.

The CJP sued Auditor Elaine M. Howle in San Francisco Superior Court in October, seeking to limit the scope of an audit ordered by the Legislature in August. The CJP is the state agency that investigates and disciplines judges charged with misconduct...

Center for Judicial Excellence, Marin County Court Reform Advocates Applaud Commission on Judicial Performance Audit

Read the full article at the Marin Independent Journal.

Whistleblower Report Reveals Serial Misconduct by Contra Costa County Judge Bruce Mills Resulted in Repeated CJP Wrist Slaps

Judge Bruce C. Mills

A report cataloging serial acts of misconduct spanning more than 10 years by Judge Bruce C. Mills has been leaked to the public by a court watchdog and whistleblower group.

The 51-page dossier collected both public and "secret" discipline prosecutions against the judge by the Commission on Judicial Performance, the state agency responsible for judge oversight and accountability. The report is embedded at the end of this post.

The report reveals that in addition to two well known public disciplinary actions taken against the veteran Contra Costa County jurist, Mills was also found guilty in three additional incidents where the type of discipline and name of the offender were "private" and not revealed to the public.

The group identified Mills as the offending judge in the secret proceedings by reverse engineering details from the public disciplinary actions and cross referencing the information with old CJP annual reports. The acts of public and private misconduct occurred in 2001, 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2013.

Traffic Court Judges Responsible for Statewide, Institutionalized Socioeconomic Bias Against Poor Remain Unaccountable, Unpunished

Statewide traffic courts scandal news reports expose institutionalized socioeconomic bias against the poor by California courts and judges. Bias based on socioeconomic status is illegal and prohibited by state law in four separate sections of the Code of Judicial Ethics, covering both the adjudicative and administrative responsibilities of judges.  

Over one year later, no disciplinary action taken against a single judge by the California Commission on Judicial Performance. In fact, the CJP has never disciplined a judge for bias based on socioeconomic status, according to CJP data. Read, download, and share the special 38-page compilation below: 

Complaints Against California Judges Sought for Court Reform Group CJP Investigative Reporting Project

The production team for the 2014 documentary film Divorce Corp is assisting Court Reform LLC in compiling and cataloging California judge misconduct complaints, according to an email leaked to Commission on Judicial Performance Report: 

San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Calls Commission on Judicial Performance Sleeping, Toothless Watchdog, Secretive as the CIA

California Judiciary's Toothless Watchdog, San Francisco Chronicle:

"The Commission on Judicial Performance is as secretive about its operations as the CIA. In response to a public records request from First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit that has greatly improved Californians’ access to government records, the panel refused to disclose complaints or even the number of complaints filed by judge or by county.

Embattled CJP Director Victoria Henley Gets Earful at California Assembly Budget Committee Hearing

In this video clip, Commission on Judicial Performance whistleblower and court reform advocate Joe Sweeney testifies at a California Assembly Budget Committee hearing on March 28, 2016. The commission is solely responsible for oversight and accountability of judges in the state. 

Several days before the hearing, Sweeney's court modernization and reform organization, Court Reform LLC, released a 78-page report which raised questions about CJP judicial misconduct statistical data and how the agency spends taxpayer funds. 

Florida Judge Punished For Rudeness in Legally Jailing Family Court Witness - California Judge Who Illegally Jailed Family Court Parent Remains Unaccountable, Unpunished

In August 2014, Commission on Judicial Performance Report posted an article about a government whistleblower leaked courtroom security video from Sacramento County. The video recorded controversial Judge Matthew Gary ordering the arrest and incarceration of family court reform activist Robert Saunders in 2009. 

As we reported, two outside independent judges who reviewed the incident determined that the arrest was illegal. The criminal charges against Saunders, including resisting arrest, were dismissed by Judge Richard Gilmour. 

Despite both video and documentary proof that Judge Matthew Gary's actions were illegal, and a violation of multiple sections of the Code of Judicial Ethics, after seven years the Commission on Judicial Performance has failed or refused to discipline the judge.

Rule of Law Breakdown in Sacramento County Attributed to Commission on Judicial Performance Inaction

Sacramento County judges who facilitated criminal child abductions in two family court cases remain unpunished and unaccountable, according to an updated report from Sacramento Family Court Report, a nonprofit news agency.  

Controversial Judge Matthew Gary assisted a criminal abduction by a client of divorce attorney and Sacramento Superior Court temporary judge Richard Sokol over two years ago. Judge Thadd Blizzard approved an out-of-state criminal child abduction by a client of divorce lawyer Timothy Zeff more than five years ago. Zeff's partner, attorney Scott Buchanan, also is a part-time judge in the same court. 

In both cases, the judges approved the abductions after-the-fact, weeks after they occurred.  California child abduction law specifies that post-abduction court authorization does not negate the crime. 

California Commission on Judicial Performance Receives Failing Grade in Nationwide State Integrity Investigation Project

An investigative report by Center for Public Integrity has criticized California for its lack of judicial accountability. In a nationwide state integrity investigation, California received a failing grade in the category. 

The Center is one of the country's oldest and largest nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organizations. The mission of the Center is "to serve democracy by revealing abuses of power, corruption and betrayal of public trust by powerful public and private institutions, using the tools of investigative journalism." 

CJP Dormant on Code of Judicial Ethics Violations by 3rd District Court of Appeal Judges

The pending Ferris v. Ferris appeal alleges misconduct by Sacramento County Judge Matthew Gary and seeks to establish a constitutional right to counsel in civil cases involving basic human needs.

An appeal from a high-profile Sacramento Superior Court case has languished in the 3rd District Court of Appeal for more than 39 months. Court watchdogs allege that the appellate court has deliberately delayed resolution of the appeal because it involves egregious and embarrassing misconduct by a prominent Sacramento County Superior Court judge with a history of similar conduct.

"This case represents one of the most unsettling examples we've seen of what we believe is cronyism between the Third District and Sacramento Superior Court," said Ulf Carlsson of the Family Court Accountability Coalition, a court watchdog organization."The trial court judge has personal connections in the appellate court, and the 3rd District is delaying this case in the hopes that the publicity will die down and the issues raised will become moot." 

Holiday Satire: Commission on Judicial Performance and California Judges Have Hot, Sweaty Make-Up Sex

Commission on Judicial Performance Director Victoria B. Henley reportedly has patched up a domestic dispute with the judges of California. 

Special Holiday Edition Satire

The Recorder, an online and print news organization serving judges, lawyers and other Judicial Branch hangers-on has published a story reporting that tensions have subsided between judges in California and the Commission on Judicial Performance, the state agency responsible for oversight and accountability of those same judges.

The satire division here at the Commission on Judicial Performance Report is certainly relieved to hear this news. Having an adversarial relationship between judges and the CJP would be like gangbangers and cops not getting along. But, according to the inside account, the reconciliation didn't come easy.

Controversial Sacramento Superior Court Judge Matthew Gary Involved in Fatal Traffic Incident with Cyclist

UPDATE: The Sacramento Bee has published an investigative report about the questions surrounding this incident: click here. 

The California Highway Patrol has issued a press release announcing a fatal traffic incident involving controversial Sacramento County Judge Matthew Gary:

Commission on Judicial Performance Fails To Investigate, Prosecute Serial Misconduct Spanning Years by Sacramento County Judge

The appellate brief excerpt embedded at the bottom of this post recounts one instance of Sacramento Superior Court Judge Matthew Gary's alleged misconduct in the high profile Susan Ferris case, in connection with an illegal attorney fee sanctions order. 

The appeal in the case is pending at the controversial 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento. 

The proceedings have been reported by the Sacramento Bee, and are being closely watched by court reform advocates. Interest in the case and family court corruption in Sacramento County on social media, YouTube, and Vimeo has reached viral levels among family court reform watchdogs.

The embedded document package also includes the court reporter transcript from a hearing in the case recording that Gary ordered Ferris to pay $2,500 to the opposing attorney, Timothy Zeff, based on Ferris' "body language." 

New Report Confirms Institutionalized Socioeconomic Bias by California Judges Ignored by Commission on Judicial Performance

A report by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area has documented systemic socioeconomic bias and economic exploitation of the poor throughout courts in California. 

The report, Not Just a Ferguson Problem - How Traffic Courts Drive Inequality in California, begins with this introduction: 

CJP Ignores Video and Court Records Establishing Abuse of Authority, Code of Judicial Ethics Violations by Controversial Sacramento County Judge

A startling courthouse security video leaked by a government whistleblower records the illegal 2009 assault and arrest of indigent, disabled pro per litigant and family court reform activist Robert Saunders. 

During a March 9, 2009 court hearing, Judge Matthew Gary ordered the self-represented Saunders arrested and jailed for contempt of court. Two outside, independent judges who later reviewed the incident determined that both the contempt charge and arrest were illegal.