United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Robert commended the federal judiciary for taking steps to protect employees from sexual harassment in the workplace in his annual year-end report released on Monday, according to Politico.
Roberts endorsed the internal judicial report which recommended changes to the federal judiciary after it found inappropriate conduct within the workplace and called for continued monitoring during 2019.
The "The job is not yet done," Roberts said in his year-end report. "The job is not finished until we have done all that we can to ensure that all of our employees are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect."
Roberts' assessment comes after a year-long process when the judicial branch evaluated how to improve, even though two tumultuous cases shook the nation.
2018 began with an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct against longtime federal appeals court Judge Alex Kosinski of California and ended with the tumultuous hearing and ethics investigation into Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Kozinski announced he was retiring early before any action was taken, and Kavanaugh ended up being confirmed by a 50-48 Senate vote on to the high court.
The working group appointed by Roberts said in June inappropriate workplace conduct was "not limited to a few isolated instances involving law clerks," Roberts said.
"The working group concluded that misconduct, when it does occur, is more likely to take the form of incivility or disrespect than overt sexual harassment, and it frequently goes unreported."
Roberts said last year the judiciary "is not immune" from sexual harassment, but this year's statement centered on the growing legal issues emerging from the MeToo movement.
"Recent events have highlighted that the very qualities that make the position of law clerk attractive – particularly, the opportunity to work with a senior member of the legal profession in a position of mentorship and trust – can create special risks of abuse," Roberts said. "Similar concerns have of course been highlighted with respect to misconduct in other prestigious and high-profile professions."
Kavanaugh's hearing also reminded many of the confirmation fight for Justice Clarence Thomas, who was accused by former co-worker Anita Hill of making lewd and unwelcome advances.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody
Photo:
AP / Cliff Owen