Federal Judiciary Study
Include Your Voice in the Federal Judiciary Study
League of Women Voters branches across the country have been asked to consider the Consensus Questions produced by the Federal Judiciary Study Committee for their use in creating a national League of Women Voters policy. The study has been fast-tracked to be completed within a year so a position can be announced at the LWVUS 2025 Council in June 2025.
LWVLL will meet via Zoom on Saturday, April 12 from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM to consider and discuss the consensus questions. We recognize this is not an ideal time but there are lot of meetings in April. Our deadline for returning feedback to the Federal Judiciary Study Committee is April 14. RSVP NOW.
We will review each of twelve statements and determine if we are in either strong or moderate consensus with the statement, in strong or moderated against the statement, or have no consensus. We will have up to five minutes to discuss each statement before determining our level of consensus. Meeting link
The twelve survey statements are:
- Transparency is essential to an effective Federal Judiciary.
- Accountability is essential to an effective Federal Judiciary.
- Independence is essential to an effective Federal Judiciary.
- Ethics is essential to an effective Federal Judiciary.
- There should be binding universal standards of conduct for judges and Justices at all levels of the Federal courts.
- Court hearings, documents filed in the court, and rulings for all federal cases should be open and available to the public.
- There should be an effective enforcement mechanism for the Federal Judiciary code of ethics at all levels.
- An enforcement mechanism should include a process to require a judge or Justice to recuse him or herself when a reasonable litigant would believe that the judge or Justice has a bias against any party or any issue raised in the case.
- A judge or Justice’s decision and rationale to recuse or not recuse should be publicly disclosed in writing.
- Federal judges and Justices should be subject to rigorous financial disclosure requirements, enforcement, and penalties for all financial benefits, including but not limited to income, gifts, paid speaking engagements, and book deals.
- Stability of law (stare decisis) is a value that contributes to a strong democracy.
- Public perception of the Supreme Court’s legitimacy contributes to a strong democracy.
There are ten position papers on lwv.org that can provide you with a fuller understanding of the federal judiciary and the issues related to it. They are available here: