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| For Immediate Release | |
| Feb 9, 2000 | Contact: Press Office 202-646-5172 |
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Judicial Council Orders Reconsideration of Judicial Watch Complaint Concerning Direct Assignment of Clinton Fundraising Scandal Cases To Clinton Appointees (Washington, D.C.) The Judicial Council of the District of Columbia Circuit ordered yesterday that a federal appeals court judge reconsider Judicial Watch's judicial complaint, based on press reports and congressional inquiries, asking 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's complaint, which also asked for a probe of secret monthly meetings by Clinton appointees in the DC Circuit, was first filed in August, 1999. The Judicial Council for the District of Columbia Circuit, which is made up of D.C. federal circuit and district court judges, ruled on February 9: ...that the portion of the [Judicial Watch] complaint concerning the special assignment of cases be returned to the Acting Chief Judge for reconsideration in light of the letter of January 10, 2000...from The Honorable Howard Coble, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property of the Committee on the Judiciary United States, House of Representatives, and for consideration of whether a special committee should be appointed...to investigate further this aspect of the complaint." Congressman Coble's letter had raised further questions about Chief Judge Norma Holloway Johnson's assignment of cases concerning Bill Clinton's fundraising to recent Clinton appointees. The Judicial Council's February 9 order was silent on the other aspect of Judicial Watch's complaint, which asked for a probe of secret monthly meetings by Clinton appointees in the DC Circuit. "We are gratified by this ruling," stated Judicial Watch President Thomas Fitton. "Judicial Watch believes that judges deserve the same, respectful scrutiny as other public officials." |
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