Michael Miller Intimidation by Another Name: Attacking Judges With Good Government Rhetoric and the Chilling Effect on Judicial Independence
The authors of a recent report naming New York judges who are allegedly more likely to order pretrial detention for criminal defendants provided a rambling and highly defensive response to criticism of their work by former Appellate Division, First Department Presiding Justice Rolando Acosta and 12 judicial associations—and ignored the point that irresponsible criticism of judges has a chilling effect on judicial independence, a former president of both the New York State Bar Association and the New York County Lawyers' Association writes.
August 07, 2023 at 11:05 PM
10 minute read
Commentary
[This article was submitted in response to an op-ed published in the New York Law Journal on July 24 titled "Studying Judicial Decision-Making Is Not 'Intimidation," by Oded Oren, executive director of Scrutinize; Chad M. Topaz, executive director of research at QSIDE Institute; and Courtney Machi Oliva, executive director of the Zimroth Center at New York University School of Law. That op-ed was itself a response to retired Appellate Division, First Department Presiding Justice Rolando Acosta's op-ed, "Report on 'Carceral' Judges Is Flawed and Dangerous," which the New York Law Journal published on June 13.]
Sadly, it has become common practice to attack judges with misinformation and mischaracterization of their records as the judges are restrained by the canons of judicial ethics from responding. This restraint makes them easy targets for the sensationalist media, politicians and, at times, academics, since judges are compelled to remain silent.
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