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Who Should Judge Judges?
LEGISLATORS COULD DISSOLVE THE BOARD THAT PROSECUTES BAD JUDGES
By Tom Crawford tcrawford@gareport.com
There are roughly 2,000 judges in Georgia,
serving at every level of the judicial system
from the state Supreme Court all the way
down to local magistrate judges. The great
majority of them are honorable people who
try to do a decent job of making sure justice
is served in their courtrooms. But there are
occasionally dishonest or emotionally dis
turbed people who have to be removed from
their judgeships.
Over the past decade, more than 60
judges have left the bench because of their
misconduct. One of the judges told a female
lawyer handling a divorce case that she
should drop her pants in a private display in
the judge’s chambers. Another judge pulled
out a handgun while presiding in court and
told a witness, “You might as well shoot
your lawyer.” Another judge arranged to
have evidence planted so that a woman was
arrested on drug charges after she refused
to have sex with him. Another judge was
caught having sex with an assistant public
defender who had represented defendants
in his courtroom.
These were judges who clearly were a
danger to public safety and decency every
day that they sat on the bench. They were
removed from the judicial system largely as
a result of investigations conducted by the
Judicial Qualifications Commission.
In many instances, the mere prospect of
having their misdeeds exposed is enough to
persuade a judge under investigation to vol
untarily resign. “When I tell them they’re
entitled to a public trial, a light bulb seems
to go on in their head,” said Richard Hyde,
for several years the JQC’s chief investiga
tor. “They don’t want a public trial.”
Judges are powerful people, however,
and some of them started complaining to
legislators. Among its investigations of
judges, the JQC admittedly mishandled a
couple of them involving Cynthia Becker,
a former DeKalb County Superior Court
judge, and Mitchell Scoggins, a Bartow
County probate judge. “We still owe an
apology to both of these people,” Hyde con
ceded at a legislative hearing.
Some lawmakers are using those two
cases as an excuse to dismantle the JQC as
an independent commission. They plan to
replace it with an agency that is controlled
by legislators and empowered to conduct
its business secretly. The General Assembly
passed a constitutional amendment that
will be on the Nov. 8 ballot. It would dis
solve the current JQC and give legislators
free rein to replace it.
You can figure out the legislative intent
here by looking at the names of those who
sponsored the constitutional amendment.
They include state Rep. Johnnie Caldwell
Jr. (R-Thomaston). Caldwell was one of the
judges I referred to earlier, the one who
made lewd, sexually suggestive remarks to
a female attorney. After the JQC investi
gated him in 2010, Caldwell agreed to leave
the bench immediately and never run for
a judgeship again. That promise did not
extend to running for the legislature, how
ever, which Caldwell did in 2012 when he
won his House seat.
Georgia needs an independent agency
like the Judicial Qualifications Commission.
Judges are some of the most powerful
people in our political system, and unless
monitored by an outside commission, bad
judges will continue to sit on the bench.
If there are objections to the way the
JQC handled a couple of cases, the best
solution is to revise the rules governing the
agency. You should not eliminate one of the
best protections that citizens have against
corrupt judges. Voters should vote no on
this constitutional amendment. ©
THIS MSBklH W«ILB
DONALD TRUMP IS A RACIST, XENO
PHOBIC, MIS0GYNI5TIC NARCISSIST.
HE'S THE CHOSEN CANDIDATE Of
NEO-NAZIS, WHITE SUPREMACISTS,
AND FRINGE CONSPIRACY THEORISTS—
ALL OF WHOM HE FREQUENTLY
retweetsi
it's a foregone conclusion
THAT HE'D TREAT CONSTITUTIONAL
LIMITS ON PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY
LIKE IRRITATING SUGGESTIONS FROM
A LOW-LEVEL FLUNKY. THE MAN
IS AN EXTINCTION-LEVEL EVENT
FOR DEMOCRACY, AND IT'S TER
RIFYING THAT THIS ELECTION IS
EVEN REMoTELT close.
HE'S A GRIFTER AND A FRAUD,
WITH A LONG, DOCUMENTED HISTORY
OF CHEATING PEOPLE AND BREAK
ING PROMISES. HE'S A SOCIOPATH
WHO'S IMMUNE TO SHAME AND
LIES PRETTY MUCH EVERY TIME
HE OPENS HIS MOUTH.
by TOM TOMORROW
HE HAS THE IMPULSE CONTROL OF
A HYPERACTIVE SEVEN YEAR OLD,
AND THE FOREIGN POLICY SOPHIS
TICATION TO MATCH. IT WOULD BE
AN Act OF COLLECTIVE INSANITY
TO PUT HIM IN CHARGE OF THE
AMERICAN NUCLEAR ARSENAL.
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