Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. at the investiture of Neil Gorsuch on June 15, 2017. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / NLJ

The federal judiciary is establishing a group to study the scope of safeguards against workplace misbehavior, a move that comes two days after a prominent U.S. appeals judge resigned amid allegations of inappropriate conduct with law clerks.

Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. asked the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to set up the working group, according to a memo the agency's director, James Duff, distributed on Wednesday to all federal judges, public defenders, district and circuit court executives and other staff.

Duff wrote in the memo:

“The Chief Justice has asked me to establish a working group to examine the sufficiency of the safeguards currently in place within the Judiciary to protect court employees, including law clerks, from wrongful conduct in the workplace. I plan to establish a working group in the coming weeks that will produce its report and recommendations by May 1, 2018.”

The retirement of Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit this week sent reverberations across the judiciary.

Several former clerks—their claims were first reported by The Washington Post—alleged the onetime chief judge made inappropriate comments or otherwise engaged them in unwanted behavior. The Post subsequently reported the claims of other women who alleged Kozinski inappropriately touched them. Kozinski, facing a judicial misconduct complaint, resigned and apologized.

“I've always had a broad sense of humor and a candid way of speaking to both male and female law clerks alike,” Kozinski said. “In doing so, I may not have been mindful enough of the special challenges and pressures that women face in the workplace. It grieves me to learn that I caused any of my clerks to feel uncomfortable; this was never my intent.”

James Duff

Duff's two-page memo, first reported by CNN on Wednesday, did not mention Kozinski or the pending misconduct investigation. Duff used the memo to provide “a reminder of that processes and procedures exist for all judicial branch employees to report concerns of wrongful workplace conduct, including sexual harassment.”

The memo mentioned various ways court employees can make misconduct complaints, and the memo noted that the Federal Judicial Center this week added a statement to the law clerk handbook that said nothing about the confidentiality of the courts precludes the filing of any workplace complaint.

Hundreds of former clerks this week urged federal court administrators, and Roberts, to confront workplace harassment.

“I encourage the courts to make full use of these resources, and I also encourage all who are in the judiciary to take action when they observe or encounter inappropriate conduct,” Duff wrote. “Everyone who works in the Judiciary has recourse if they are subjected to inappropriate behavior.”

Tony Mauro contributed to this report.

 

Duff's memo is posted in full below.