Opinion: We showed a pattern of racial bias in this judge's courtroom. Why is the JTC silent?
Democracies require transparency and meaningful oversight of elected officials to protect the public trust in our system of law and government.
More than a year ago, we filed a grievance against Washtenaw Circuit Court Judge Archie Brown because of what we believe is a pattern and practice of violating his obligations under the Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct. We filed the complaint with the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, the only forum in which the public can register concerns about a judge’s behavior in office.
For almost 14 months, we have heard nothing from the JTC. Our complaint, raising serious issues of fairness and equity in this judge’s actions, seems to have fallen into a black hole while he continues to sit on the bench handing down potentially unjust sentences.
A lack of urgency
As an independent state agency funded by public dollars, the JTC’s responsibility for investigating complaints of judicial misconduct “serves to promote the integrity of the judicial process and preserve public confidence in the courts.” How is there oversight of elected judges if no action is taken on serious complaints for over a year? Shouldn’t there be more urgency when dealing with people’s lives?
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Is the delay due to a lack of resources to support an experienced and committed staff? Resistance to investigate a fellow judge’s actions on the bench? Or is the JTC simply waiting until the judge retires at the end of the year?
Can the JTC be independent and provide real oversight when the majority of tts members are judges? And why does the JTC have a rule that “any communication between a grievant…and any individual commissioner is considered ex-parte communication [outside the presence of other commissioners or opposing counsel] and is prohibited,” when there is no such prohibition for communications between a commissioner and a judge?
Keeping voters in the dark
You might say that Michiganders have another avenue to remove a judge – through elections. True enough. But without transparency, the other leg of the democracy stool, how can the public assess the quality of a judge before an election?
Judges make crucial decisions that impact the lives of people appearing before them which have a ripple effect in the communities they serve. And yet there is a cloak of secrecy surrounding their decisions and behavior. Most judges provide little insight into their sentencing decisions, and it is difficult for the public to discover whether they impose harsher punishment in some cases based on a defendant's race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation. Nor are pending complaints about such behavior available to the public.
The complaint we filed doesn’t concern a single case. It uses data covering many years to show a pattern of behavior pointing to disparate treatment based on race. With so much data, it’s difficult to argue that there is no basis for an investigation.
But the JTC is the only entity that can investigate whether the pattern we've brought to its attention does, in fact, result in unequal treatment. While the basis of our complaint may be novel, in the interest of fairness to the public and the judge, the tenure commissioners should not let the issue linger.
The Michigan Supreme Court and many judges across the state are committed to making the judicial process more transparent and strengthening public confidence in the courts. The JTC's failure to respond to our serious allegations and its policy of keeping grievances confidential serve neither of those ends.
We urge the state Supreme Court to come up with real solutions and tools the public can use. Doing that will strengthen the public’s confidence in the judiciary.
Eleanore Ablan-Owen belongs to the Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice. Natalie Holbrook is with the American Friends Service Committee’s Michigan Criminal Justice program.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Opinion: JTC slow-walks probe of racial bias in judge's sentences
