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"Judgment lacking in ethics case"

"Judgment lacking in ethics case": The St. Petersburg Times today contains an editorial that begins, "Put aside, for a moment, the possible motivations. An appellate judge who blew the whistle on a jarring conflict of judicial interest is now being punished by the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission, and its selective prosecution is indefensible. The commission, which has shown undue tolerance in recent years for many judges' misdeeds, is all but throwing the book at 1st District Court of Appeal Judge Michael E. Allen. His crime is that he questioned whether the court's then-chief judge, Charles J. Kahn Jr., should have recused himself in a high-profile corruption case that was defended by his former law partner."

One week ago today, the newspaper contained an article headlined "Lust, lies and disorder in court; Sworn statements of judges show a bizarre conflict playing out behind the scenes." On Friday, the newspaper reported that "Perjury charge looming for district judge; Judge Michael E. Allen is accused of lying about his feelings toward a fellow judge." And on Thursday, the newspaper contained an article headlined "Misdeeds of other judges off limits? A panel wants to block some testimony in the trial of a judge accused of unbecoming conduct."

Friday's edition of The Tallahassee Democrat contained an article headlined "Judge's impropriety not relevant, says attorney" that begins, "Judge Charles Kahn's hot temper and sexual affairs have nothing to do with charges of misconduct against a fellow 1st District Court of Appeal judge and mention of it should be barred as evidence, lawyers for the Judicial Qualification Commission argue."

And The Pensacola News Journal yesterday contained an editorial entitled "Court panel's actions outrageous."

I wrote about this matter in the May 14, 2007 installment of my "On Appeal" column for law.com headlined "When Should a Judge Face Discipline for What an Opinion Says?"

This blog's earliest coverage of this matter appeared in this post from July 2006.

Full post as published by How Appealing on February 10, 2008 (boomark / email).