No part of society is immune from sexual harassment, including the federal court system. Federal court is where many employment discrimination cases are filed and there are federal judges who may be deciding them who have sexually harassed others.

The federal judiciary is starting to track and release information on sexual harassment complaints against judges, reports the Washington Post. James Duff, the director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, made the announcement in February. He stated added they’re exploring other changes as well after a powerful appeals court judge quit after harassment allegations were made public.

The federal judiciary has been dealing with changes in the wake of increasingly publicized sexual harassment cases and public outrage. One of the cases involves a judge who was on one of the country’s highest courts, Alex Kozinski, formerly a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Kozinski resigned soon after an investigation to the allegations started, ending the matter.

The federal judiciary stated in a press release there had been 1,303 misconduct complaints filed against employees in fiscal 2016, more than 1,200 from dissatisfied litigants and prison inmates. The judiciary claimed that there were no sexual harassment complaints, nor complaints of any kind from law clerks or judiciary employees who work closely with judges.

Administrator Duff stated these statistics were consistent with the complaints filed in most years. A law clerk filed a sexual harassment complaint in 2016 against a judge through a different process known as the Employee Dispute Resolution program. Duff also stated that sexual harassment in the judiciary often isn’t reported and he was trying to remove barriers to filing complaints and educating employees about how complaints can be made.

The most infamous sexual harassment claim involving the judiciary was made against a candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court. Clarence Thomas was the chairman of the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the government agency that enforces federal workplace sexual harassment laws, when he was nominated by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.

Towards the end of the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, an FBI report leaked to the public that Anita Hill, who worked for Thomas at the EEOC and the federal Department of Education (DOE), accused him of sexually harassing her. After a media frenzy, Hill’s testimony to the Committee was televised.   Hill was abused by most of the Republican Senators in the questioning process, with some of the Democrats either joining in or taking insufficient steps to protect her.  This included then-Chairman, Joe Biden, now presidential candidate for the 2020 election.  Biden has been getting poor reviews from citizens, activists, and members of the press who recall his shameful performance, which included his failure to permit corroborating witnesses to testify on Hill’s behalf.

Hill claimed while working at the DOE, Thomas spoke to her about acts that he had seen in pornographic films including bestiality, group sex, and rape. He also allegedly told her about his sex life and after they moved to the EEOC he asked her who put pubic hair in his Coke. Thomas denied these allegations, claimed he was the victim of a “high tech lynching”, and the Committee sent the nomination to the Senate without a recommendation. The Senate later voted to approve Thomas’ nomination by a snail’s whisker: a 52-48 vote in favor, the closest margin in U.S. Senate history for a Supreme Court nominee.

As long as there are people (mostly men) in positions of power who think they can get away with sexual harassment, it will persist. We help those who have been subjected to sexual harassment, no matter who their employer is or the vaunted position of the harasser.

If you have questions or concerns about workplace sexual harassment, contact the employment attorneys for workers at Kingston Law Group, 609-683-7400, or contact us online to set up a near-term reduced fee initial consultation at our Central Jersey location in Kingston.  We will listen to your facts, explain the law, and recommend your best pathways to monetary and social justice.  Call today. You will be glad you did.