On September 30, Dan Cox, who was the Montana Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate in 2012, won a federal injunction allowing him to publish a complaint he made about a state court judge some time ago. In Montana, if anyone files a complaint against a state judge with the Judicial Standards Commission, and the Commission decides that no action should be taken, it is a crime for the complaint to ever be made public. Cox v McLean, cv14-199. The federal court order says the Montana rule on perpetual confidentiality of charges against state court judges violates the First Amendment. Thanks to Mike Fellows for this news.
The article did not indicate which statute made it a crime to publicize Judicial Standards Commission findings. I suspect it’s more adjudication from the bench. Judicial Standards Commission is comparable to Police Internal Investigation Teams. No matter what the charge or complaint, the Commission or Team will provide a rationale to justify the actions of the cop or judge. The jurisdiction and authority of an independent Grand Jury has to be reimposed. Obviously, there is a conflict of interest involved and the People are being denied redress of grievances against official misconduct of courts, police and government officials.