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| For Immediate Release | |
| Feb 3, 2000 | Contact: Press Office 202-646-5172 |
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Judicial Watch Was First to Ask For Investigation of Direct Assignment of Clinton Fundraising Scandal Cases To Clinton Appointees Judges Will Now No Longer Allow Direct Assignment Investigation Still Required (Washington, D.C.) Judicial Watch, the non-partisan public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, said today that a reported rule change by federal judges in the District of Columbia Circuit taking away the ability of the Chief Judge to directly assign cases "doesn't go far enough." Judicial Watch, based on press reports, has long been asking the DC Appeals Court for an investigation of allegations that Chief Judge Norma Holloway Johnson had improperly bypassed the random assignment process when she directly assigned cases concerning President Clinton to recent Clinton appointees. Judicial Watch is also asking for a probe of secret monthly meetings by Clinton appointees in the DC Circuit. In a tacit acknowledgment that Judicial Watch's complaint has merit and requires a full investigation, the DC Circuit will no longer allow the direct assignment of cases by the Chief Judge. "The DC Circuit's rule changes don't go far enough. Appointees of a President should be barred from sitting on cases that concern that President personally. In the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, Clinton's appointees, to their credit, recused themselves from the Paula Jones matter. The DC Circuit ought to follow the Eighth Circuit's lead and make the appropriate rule changes," stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. |
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