Federal judges have enormous power over their courtrooms and their chambers, which can leave employees vulnerable to abuse, with few ways to report their concerns anonymously. Forty-two current and former federal judicial employees spoke to NPR about their experience of mistreatment working for judges appointed by presidents from both major political parties.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics. And today on the pod, we have something special.
Our colleague, Kerry Johnson, who's NPR's justice correspondent, has been working for almost a year on a story about a subject we rarely hear about, what happens inside the chambers of a federal judge, especially when it comes to the way judges treat their clerks, who are young, vulnerable, and as Kerry found out, terrified of ever reporting any wrongdoing.
And just a warning, this piece contains a description of sexual assault. Carrie takes it from here.
In 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic began to shut things down, a recent law school graduate started a new job all the way across the country in Alaska. She accepted a coveted post as a law clerk for a federal judge.
It's kind of like a unicorn. It's a position that follows you for the rest of your life. It's on the top of your resume. It's You know, people pay attention to it, especially a federal court clerkship. The clerk hoped this job would jumpstart her career.
She didn't know anyone else there, only the judge.
The judge was the HR department. The judge was my boss. The judge was a colleague. The judge was everything. He had all the power. He started testing her boundaries early on. It started immediately. The inappropriate conversations, there was a lot of talk about the judge's personal relationships, about sexual relationships.
She says she thought it was part of her job to listen to the judge and help him with anything. He was going through a divorce, and he began to text her constantly, to the point where her phone felt like an electric leash.
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