Code of Silence: Sexual Misconduct by Federal Judges, the Secret System That Protects Them, and the Women Who Blew the Whistle by Lise Olsen

Author:Lise Olsen [Olsen, Lise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sexual Abuse & Harassment, law, Courts, political science, American Government, Judicial Branch
ISBN: 9780807008997
Google: 1MoTEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 2021-10-26T00:12:16.889523+00:00

On October 29, 2007, Porteous was preparing to testify in his closed judicial disciplinary hearing in New Orleans when he received an unusual phone call. Normally, judges move freely through secure federal buildings without having to undergo the indignities of producing IDs and undergoing the scrutiny of armed guards and x-ray machines. A staff member from the Fifth Circuit courthouse next door phoned to explain that prior to the hearing Porteous would be required to pass through security. Minutes before the 10 a.m. hearing began, Porteous found himself emptying his pockets at the public entrance of the John Minor Wisdom Court of Appeals Building. Some friends saw it as a deliberate insult ordered by Jones. Others wondered whether Porteous was deemed a security or suicide risk because of his self-described mental impairments.

As part of his defense, Porteous portrayed himself as a tragic figure. In 2005, Porteous and his wife were among an estimated three hundred thousand families who lost homes to floods caused by Hurricane Katrina, according to a December 2008 Government Accountability Office report; other estimates were even higher. Their two-story brick home on Lake Ponchatrain was wrecked, and a few months later, in the chaotic aftermath, Porteous’s beloved wife died of a heart attack. In 2006, Porteous recused himself from criminal cases because of the grand jury investigation of “Operation Wrinkled Robe.” He then requested and received a year-long leave, claiming to be too ill and impaired from personal losses to perform judicial duties. He had returned to his bench only weeks before the hearing.

Normally, testimony that accused judges such as Porteous offer in response to judicial misconduct complaints is never provided to outsiders nor even to complainants. But an archive and hearing transcript released by Fifth Circuit officials a few months later provided an unusual window into how the secret system of investigating judicial misconduct complaints tackled the corruption allegations against him. It’s possible that Porteous agreed to make those disciplinary documents available, since federal law gives the accused judge some discretion over disclosing disciplinary records. The Judicial Conduct and Disability Act says that unless the judge who is the subject of the accusation authorizes the disclosure, “all papers, documents, and records of proceedings related to investigations conducted under [the law] shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed by any person.” By making so much of the archive public, the Fifth Circuit also facilitated access to the records for members of Congress who would soon be considering whether to impeach Porteous, as his own peers would later recommend.

In their October hearing, judicial investigators only had to determine whether Porteous had committed “conduct prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the court.” But so many interrelated accusations were lodged against him that his disciplinary hearing resembled a trial, featuring two full days of witness testimony and dozens of exhibits.

Presiding was Jones, flanked by US Circuit Judge Fortunato Pedro “Pete” Benavides, based in Austin, and US District Judge Sim Lake in Houston. All three were Texans.

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