Jesus! "Slouching Toward Gomorrah"? Judge Bork Didn't See This One Coming!

by Barb Teachblade Reynolds, Law Professor Emeritus

PREFATORY STATEMENT:

"Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline" is a 1996 non-fiction book by former United States Court of Appeals Judge, Robert H. Bork. Bork's thesis in the book -- is that American and more generally Western culture is in a state of decline and that the cause of this decline is modern liberalism and the rise of the New Left. Specifically he attacks modern liberalism for what he describes as its dual emphasis on radical egalitarianism and radical individualism.

I've been in the Legal Community enough decades (nearly 50 years) to see the Great Ones of the Judiciary and apparently now must witness -- its Divergence from that Gold Standard -- as defined by the watershed moment in the current Ninth Circuit by Hon. Judge B. Shubb.

Unbelievable disconnect by the Judge that's not the least bit cute. Those were wise words from my former law school professor -- "don't be cute when writing to the Court" -- and apparently the same rule applies even trying to write in anonymity about a Pending case and your identity is investigated and discovered. Maybe his Twitter Account was hacked. However, who would know the pending case well enough to comment on events occurring in court -- hours before -- and who would have the motivation to hack this judge's Twitter account?

In this instance, the Judge was not channeling Respectability of the Office and therefore did Not lead the rest of the nation in this instance. Rather he forgot his Ethical Duty well-settled in the Rules for Judicial Conduct of United States Appeals Court Judges, which states in pertinent part as follows:

Rules for Judicial Conduct of US Appeals Court Judges:

Canon 3A(6). The admonition against public comment about the merits of a pending or impending matter continues until the appellate process is complete. If the public comment involves a case from the judge’s own court, the judge should take particular care so that the comment does not denigrate public confidence in the judiciary’s integrity and impartiality, which would violate Canon 2A. A judge may comment publicly on proceedings in which the judge is a litigant in a personal capacity, but not on mandamus proceedings when the judge is a litigant in an official capacity (but the judge may respond in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 21(b)).

A Violation of Judicial Conduct? The Black Letter Law appears pretty Clear.

I've worked with six (6) Judges pre-bench (including Pamela Ann Rymer, Federal Judge and Presiding Magistrate with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit -- whom this Judge surely knew) -- and it gets lonely in chambers, but part of the leadership is to Never lose one's demeanor and morph to conduct that brings ill-repute on the Judiciary. Think not? Consider the kool-aid.

I've taken great pride in furthering the Standard of Excellence for many Lawyers, that defines, and should continue to define, the system of American Jurisprudence. Other states and countries look to the Ninth Circuit as avant garde in its decisions that lead the rest of the country -- but Not this instance. If this is it, then the entire system of American Jurisprudence is in trouble. We're slouching. That -- is Not the legacy of a system historically so magnificent -- that now renders the human spirit of this Writer. Kindly refrain and remain Jurists of the First Order as in Order of the Coif.

Please -- don't channel one's girlie-self and analogize this huge Twitter prejudice & false light to other public officials' Twitter activity spawned out of necessity from a media run amok -- because you'd be comparing apples to oranges.