Rehnquist Appoints Panel to Probe Handling of Judicial Misconduct

WASHINGTON —  Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist has named a high-level panel to investigate the federal courts’ handling of judicial misconduct, court officials said Tuesday.

Rehnquist named the committee with a statement that acknowledged criticism by Congress of judicial handling of ethics issues. Justice Stephen G. Breyer will chair the panel, according to a statement published this week in the newsletter of the federal courts. The committee will hold its first meeting next month in Washington.

“There has been some recent criticism from Congress about the way in which the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980 is being implemented, and I decided that the best way to see if there are any real problems is to have a committee look into it,” Rehnquist said in the statement.

Other members of Rehnquist’s committee are Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, Senior Judge Pasco M. Bowman of the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker of Indiana, all Reagan nominees; U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby of Maine, named to the bench by President George H.W. Bush; and Rehnquist’s top aide, Sally M. Rider.

It was unclear when the committee would finish its work or what Rehnquist would do with any recommendations. Rehnquist heads the Judicial Conference of the United States, the policy-making board for the federal court system.

Court officials said Tuesday night that the panel was focusing only on district and appellate judges and had nothing to do with the justices on the Supreme Court. The announcement of the panel follows a string of high-profile ethics controversies, including a duck-hunting trip Justice Antonin Scalia took with Vice President Dick Cheney while a case involving Cheney’s energy task force was before the high court.