A recent announcement that a Louisiana district court judge will face a November hearing on unethical conduct during a 2018 election campaign is evidence that the state is making some progress on increasing judicial transparency.
That’s the perspective of Lana Sonnier Venable, executive director of Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch, who would like to see greater openness in how the state deals with questionable judicial behavior.
The Judicial Commission of Louisiana recently scheduled a Nov. 22-24 hearing into allegations that Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Sharon Marchman violated a canon of the Louisiana Code of Judicial Conduct. The charges stem from a 2018 judicial election campaign for the Second Circuit Court of Appeal in which her opponent, Judge James “Jimbo” Stephens, accused Marchman of making false or misleading statements about him.
“Louisiana’s long-standing lack of judicial transparency is a big part of the problem that continually lands our state at or near the bottom of most national business climate rankings,” Venable told the Louisiana Record in an email. “Instances of alleged misconduct, like this one, are being more widely reported and continue to draw the ire of the public.”
The Louisiana Judicial Campaign Oversight Committee concluded that Marchman falsely said that Stephens, as a member of the Louisiana Independent Party, was aligned with Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is registered as an independent (not affiliated with any political party) in Vermont. Connecting Stephens with Sanders in this manner violates Canon 7A(9), the committee said in a public statement in 2018.
The Louisiana Supreme Court last year announced rule changes designed to increase transparency and public access to judicial discipline hearings. Among the changes is a requirement that hearings on allegations of misconduct be open to the public once they have been investigated.
In addition, judges will receive one non-public admonishment about conduct issues. After that, subsequent admonishments will be made public, according to an April 2020 statement from the state Supreme Court.
“While recent changes made by the Louisiana Supreme Court are a step in the right direction, there is still a long way to go,” Venable said. “Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch remains committed to injecting sunlight into the public discourse.”
The allegations against Marchman include soft-on-crime attacks on Judge Stephens in campaign ads. One of them mentioned Stephens’ decision to overturn a conviction of a defendant who was found guilty of burglary. Not mentioned in the ad was that the defendant was convicted by a six-person jury when the state constitution required he be tried by a 12-person jury.
Marchman denies making any knowingly false statements or violating any judicial canons.