"JUDGES ON THE DEFENSIVE"
Los Angeles Daily Journal
May 15, 2000
Reports Criticize Family
Law Jurists in Marin County
By John Roemer, Daily Journal Staff Writer
(Excerpts)
...
Duncan, now
retired from the Alameda Superior Court and working as an arbitrator, managed
to beat back the recall movement mounted against him in 1993 by fathers' rights
groups.
...
...
Judges across
the state are watching the Marin County recall effort closely, uncomfortably
aware that pressure tactics against the judiciary are mounting.
Indeed, in the
year since Duncan fought off his antagonists, anti-judicial campaigns have
grown much more widespread and better organized.
At a press
conference scheduled for today on the state Capitol steps in Sacramento, a
group called Mothers of Lost Children said it will unveil an
"explosive" report "on practices in Sacramento Family Law Court
that endanger children."
The report was
the work of Karen Winner, a New York consultant and the author of
"Divorced From Justice," who prepared a similar study lambasting
Dufficy and other family law officials in Marin.
Mothers of Lost
Children is an affiliate of a statewide group called the California Judicial
Investigative Task Force. In February, it sent a letter and a questionnaire to
every judge in the state. ...
...
...
[Judith A.]
Reisman is president of an organization called the Institute for Media
Education, which focuses on sexual issues.
Reisman added
that she has been disappointed at the poor response by judges to the
questionnaire. "There's an elitist judicial conceit at work here,"
she said. "Judges believe they are answerable to no one."
Duncan, the
former Alameda County judge, said the California Judges' Association is alarmed
at the tactics on family law jurists. As a member of the CJA's Family Law
Committee, he said, he's hearing from worried members.
"I've
talked to five or six judges around the state who want me to urge Judge Dufficy
to stand his ground and not transfer out of family law," Duncan said.
"They're saying, 'Tell him, don't take a dive on this, or we'll all be at
risk.' "
...
Duncan said the
Alameda County campaign against him was clearly an attempt at intimidation.
...
...
So instead of
quitting, he fought back, sending a spy to meetings of the recall committee.
...
...
Duncan said he
and other retired judges are advising Dufficy on how to campaign against the
recall. "I suggested he hire a professional consultant, and the CJA has
expressed some interest in getting involved," Duncan said.
CJA legislative
counsel Robert L. Waring termed attacks on family law judges
"epidemic," ..... "We have seen an increase in organized efforts
to discredit family law judges...."
(Get out your handkerchiefs, folks!)
Los Angeles Daily Journal
May 15, 2000
Parents Try Recalling Three
Bench Officers
By John Roemer, Daily Journal Staff Writer
(Excerpts)
SAN FRANCISCO --
The first judicial recall campaign in Marin County history seems reminiscent of
the arena that spawned it: divorce court.
The recall
petition drive targets three Marin family law judges ....
Fueling the
drive, in part, is a report on the county's family law system by New York
consultant Karen Winner, the author of the 1996 book "Divorced From
Justice." Unhappy ex-spouses in several jurisdictions have hired Winner to
investigate and report on local court practices.
...
Judges and some
family law practitioners in Marin "put power, profit and
self-interest over the welfare and safety of children and litigants,"
Winner wrote.
...
Angry over
Winner's report, Marin citizens are
gathering signatures in a recall drive against Superior Court Judges Michael
Dufficy, Lynn Duryee and Terrence Boren.
The judges
will resist.
...
...
The Daily
Journal has learned that Winner was paid and largely inspired by Yevrahn
Ornstein, a wealthy Marin resident.
...
"[Ornstein]
has money, and he's very angry," Dufficy said in an interview at his
chambers at the Marin Civic Center Courthouse.
Ornstein, who
describes himself as a children's rights activist, in a 1997 newspaper article
compared Marin's child protection policies to Nazi Germany.
...
...
"I make
tough decisions," Dufficy said. "That's what I'm paid to do, and I've
never been overturned by the Court of Appeal....
"Yet I get
pressure, intimidation and this recall tactic. ..."
...
Dufficy said he
and his fellow bench officers will mount their own campaign to combat the
recall effort. "We're going to resist strongly, but it's a tough situation
to be in," he said.
Dufficy ridiculed
Winner's charge that he lines the pockets of attorney friends by appointing
them to represent children in custody disputes.
...
...
"There's
never a jury, so the judge makes every single decision," he explained.
"You build up a critical mass of unhappy people who get in a room together
and make you sound like a jerk. It's gotten to a frightening point."
Our thanks to Attorney Phil Putman for sending this to us.