Second Circuit Judge Accused Of Bullying Her Law Clerks — Again

The judiciary has a harassment problem that no one cares to solve, LAP’s President and Founder Aliza Shatzman argues in Above the Law. LAP’s judicial misconduct complaint against Second Circuit Judge Sarah Merriam is just the latest in a long line of examples of judges who abuse their power by mistreating their staff, yet most judicial misconduct never comes to light.

But while the judiciary is perpetrating a fraud upon the public by shielding abusive judges from accountability, obfuscating around the true scope of judicial misconduct, and stonewalling Congress, Congress — the branch of government empowered to act — refuses to. This article outlines what members of Congress should be doing right now to hold abusive judges accountable and protect judicial branch employees, using all the tools in their toolboxes - legislation, oversight, appropriations, and the bully pulpit - none of which requires them to be in the majority to act.