History
  • No items yet
midpage
In Re Complaint of Judicial Misconduct
687 F.3d 1188
9th Cir.
2012
Check Treatment
Docket

*1 KOZINSKI, Chief Judge:

Complainant alleges that a district judge was biased against him. But “complainant hasn’t provided any objectively verifi- able proof (for example, names of witnesses, recorded docu- ments or transcripts) to support these allegations, and adverse rulings alone do not constitute proof of bias.” In re Complaint of Judicial Misconduct , 583 F.3d 598, 598 (9th Cir. Jud. Council 2009).

Complainant also alleges that the judge generally favors corporations and other institutional entities over individuals. Complainant tries to support this claim with what purports to be a statistical analysis of a large number of the judge’s opin- ions. While statistics can be used to prove a proposition, they can be misleading if not rigorously developed and properly interpreted by an objective evaluator.

Complainant concedes his statistics aren’t rigorous. He doesn’t say precisely how he selected his sample pool, which appears to be a mix of both civil and criminal cases and doesn’t include all of the judge’s opinions. And complainant generated and evaluated the case data himself, rather than using an objective, professionally trained statistician. He also

8439

8440 I N R E C OMPLAINT OF J UDICIAL M ISCONDUCT did not consider how many of the judge’s rulings have been affirmed or reversed on appeal. Most significantly, complain- ant provides no baseline. Without a baseline, there’s no way to tell whether the number of opinions favoring individuals is low, high or on a par with other judges who ruled on a similar mix of cases.

Assuming that favoring non-corporeal entities over individ- uals could amount to misconduct, complainant has provided no proof that the judge’s opinions reflect any such bias.

DISMISSED.

Case Details

Case Name: In Re Complaint of Judicial Misconduct
Court Name: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Date Published: Jul 25, 2012
Citation: 687 F.3d 1188
Docket Number: 11-90193
Court Abbreviation: 9th Cir.
AI-generated responses must be verified and are not legal advice.
Log In