D.C. Chief Federal Judge Faces Probe
By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a rare step, a judicial panel has hired a
former U.S. attorney to investigate why the chief federal judge
in Washington specially assigned the cases of presidential
friends to judges appointed by President Clinton, legal sources
said Tuesday.
Joe D. Whitley, a Republican who served in the Reagan and Bush
administrations as a prosecutor in Georgia and Washington, will
conduct the investigation of U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway
Johnson, according to the legal sources, who spoke only on
condition of anonymity.
Whitley will work for the five-judge panel that is overseeing a
misconduct complaint against Johnson to determine why she
bypassed the normal random case assignment system in a half dozen
prosecutions in the fund-raising and Whitewater investigations.
In each instance, Johnson, a Democratic appointee, sent cases to
judges appointed by Clinton, and in one instance she urged
federal prosecutors to request a specific judge appointed by him.
The cases included those of presidential friends Webster Hubbell,
a Whitewater figure, and Charlie Trie, a key Clinton fund-raiser.
After The Associated Press first disclosed special assignments in
the Trie and Hubbell cases last year, Johnson wrote a letter
saying her decision was not politically motivated and simply was
designed to shift complex cases to judges with open schedules.
She has repeatedly declined requests for additional comment.
The legal sources at the federal courthouse in Washington say the
five judges overseeing the probe will work with Whitley to
complete the investigation swiftly, perhaps in a matter of weeks.
Based on the findings of Whitley and the five judges, the panel
will make a recommendation to the Judicial Council of federal
appeals and district judges, who must decide whether to
discipline Johnson.
The council's decision could be appealed to the Judicial
Conference, the policymaking body for the U.S. court system.
Legal experts said the hiring of outside counsel to investigate a
judge's conduct is relatively rare.
''I can't think of any parallel situation in which it became
known that an outside investigator has been hired,'' said New
York University law professor Stephen Gillers. ''Usually it's
all done internally.''
Whitley declined comment through a secretary at the Atlanta law
firm where he works.
He served as U.S. attorney in Macon, Ga., from 1981-87, then
moved to the Justice Department in Washington where in 1989, he
became acting associate attorney general, the department's No.
3 post. From 1990-93, Whitley served a second stint as U.S.
attorney in Atlanta.
According to courthouse sources, Whitley will interview Johnson
and others about why she bypassed a computer system that randomly
assigns criminal cases. Johnson's bypassing of the random system
disturbed some of her colleagues, and they have since discarded
the rarely used court rule that allowed the special assignments.
The sources said it was unclear whether a separate matter --
closed meetings among Clinton-appointed judges at the courthouse
-- also will be investigated.
Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, has filed a formal
complaint against Johnson. The group released a letter from the
federal appeals court stating that the allegation of secret
meetings ''remains under advisement.''
Pressure also is mounting from Capitol Hill. Rep. Dan Burton,
R-Ind., has asked Johnson to testify May 17 before his House
Government Reform Committee. That committee still has not been
told whether Johnson will accept the panel's invitation.
Johnson, an appointee of President Carter, assigned the tax
evasion case against Hubbell and the fund-raising prosecution of
Trie to judges recently appointed by Clinton.
She also assigned four other fund-raising cases to Clinton
judges, including that of Howard Glicken, a former fund-raiser
for Vice President Al Gore. Glicken was sentenced to community
service. In that case, Clinton confidant Vernon Jordan wrote the
judge pleading for leniency.
Initially, the complaint against Johnson for the Trie and Hubbell
cases was dismissed by a federal appeals judge. But when Rep.
Howard Coble, R-N.C., disclosed the additional cases, the
Judicial Council named the five-judge panel to take a closer
look.
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~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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