Federal judiciary conduct policies amended.

Byline: Matt Chaney

The policy-making body of the federal judiciary has approved amendments which clarify what qualifies as judicial misconduct and makes it easier for victims to come forward and report judges' misdeeds.

The changes were approved by the Judicial Conference of the United States on March 12 and took effect immediately.

The amendments explicitly state behaviors which had previously been implicitly forbidden, including:

-Engaging in unwanted, offensive or abusive sexual conduct, including harassment or assault

-Treating judicial employees or others in a hostile manner

-Creating a hostile work environment for judicial employees

-Intentionally discriminating on the basis of race, color, sex, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, age or disability

-Retaliating against anyone participating in the judicial misconduct or disability complaint process

-Failing to report to superiors any behavior that is likely to qualify as judicial misconduct or disability

The changes also make it clear that confidentiality obligations should never act as a barrier to reporting judicial misconduct or disability.

The amendments come in response to recommendations from the Federal Judiciary Workplace Conduct Working group that were introduced in June 2018. The amendments to the Judges' Code and the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act Rules underwent a 60-day public comment period, followed by a 60-day internal comment period before being approved.

In addition to the rule changes, the Judicial Conference has also expanded workplace conduct training in the...