The Nation - 30.03.2020

(Martin Jones) #1
March 30, 2020 The Nation. 13

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for Death Penalty Litigation. She testified that a Ninth
Circuit contemporary of Kozinski’s, Stephen Reinhardt,
sexually harassed her while she clerked for him in 2017.
“Mainly, he suggested I was horrifically un attractive,”
Warren said. She later added, “On more than one occa-
sion, the judge suggested with words and gestures that my
husband did not likely have a penis but that if he did, he
certainly would not be able to sustain an erection while
looking at me.”
Reinhardt died in 2018, so he is not around to answer
these charges. But Warren has the support of 70 former
Reinhardt clerks who signed a letter calling on Congress
to take “bold steps” to address sexual misconduct in the
judiciary.
The raging problem with the way judges treat their
clerks is the lack of independent oversight over the en-
tire clerkship process. Many judges, including Reinhardt

and Kozinski, were known to be “difficult” long before
any allegations of sexual harassment came out. Verbal or
emotional abuse is often treated as part of the price to
be paid for an opportunity to clerk for a powerful judge.
Even judges known to be “nice” benefit from a lack of
the most basic scrutiny or accountability. Kavanaugh, for
instance, has a good record on hiring women clerks but
allegedly likes them to look a certain way. Justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg has a sterling reputation as a boss and a
mentor, but she has hired just one African American law
clerk in her 27 years on the Supreme Court.
The federal judiciary needs strong oversight by Con-
gress, which is the only body empowered by the Consti-
tution with disciplinary authority over judges. Judges, it
turns out, are not good at judging other judges. A life-
time appointment cannot be a license to abuse or harass
employees. Q

The federal
judiciary needs
strong oversight
by Congress.
Judges, it turns
out, are not good
at judging other
judges.

SNAPSHOT / LEONARDO
ALVAREZ HERNANDEZ

Fabric of Society
On March 7, as part of the International Women’s Day
actions in Guadalajara, Mexico, demonstrators laid
out swaths of red fabric symbolizing the blood of the
victims of femicide and demanded an end to gender
violence in the country.

Calvin Trillin
Deadline Poet

MIKE PENCE AS CHIEF
OF THE CORONAVIRUS
TASK FORCE

The president believed that it made sense
To put Mike Pence in charge of our defense
Against this quickly spreading worldwide threat
To public health—perhaps the worst threat yet.
Could it be wise, some asked, to place reliance
On someone with a strong disdain for science?
At least, Mike Pence supporters say, he’s trying
To modify his boss’s blatant lying.
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