FORMAL COMPLAINTS 
Amid speculation that the Judicial Conference of the United States will approve changes tomorrow for the way complaints against federal judges are treated under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act, Second Circuit Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs offers his perspective in The New York Law Journal. “For those of us who have to administer this system,” says Jacobs, “it’s comforting to have more detailed rules to consult, particularly on the question of when a committee has to be appointed to explore the facts behind the allegations. . . . We had rules, but every circuit pretty much did its own thing, and there were some widely publicized cases in which it appeared to Congress that the existing mechanism did not provide effective oversight — that judges weren’t looking into the transgressions of their brothers and sisters with appropriate zeal. The changes are more in the direction of more predictability and more uniformity among circuits, and some more disclosure.” The 67-page draft proposal represents the culmination of four years of work requested by the late U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. As for the perceived lack of public disclosure in disciplinary investigations, a theme which is front and center in the debate, Jacobs had this to say: “There is a huge value in making public as much as can be made public. On the other hand, denunciation itself can have an adverse impact and can be done for reasons of spite that have nothing to do with judicial misconduct.” Most complaints made in the Second Circuit are dismissed without being referred to a special committee that reports to the circuit’s Judicial Council.

COOPERMAN'S FACE OF STONE
The New York Times has a long piece about Queens Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman and his handling of the Sean Bell bench trial — “a man,” according to the Times, “whose reaction to the trial’s most powerful testimony has been only slightly more animated than those empty chairs.” Cooperman’s stone face proves unreadable, according to the Times, and registers two expressions: one is “attentive but unfeeling, even cold, like a psychiatrist in an old movie listening to a patient on the couch;" and the second face “generally follows the ring of somebody’s cellphone in the gallery or an interruption in the case because of a technical difficulty, like a crashing computer.” For more on Cooperman, see Judicial Reports's February 27, 2008 profile of the Queens judge here.

FROM JUDGE TO PIMP
From The Buffalo News comes word that former State Supreme Court Justice and Assemblyman Ronald H. Tills has resigned from his post as Judicial Hearing Officer amid a federal investigation into his alleged role in transporting a Buffalo-area massage parlor worker across state lines for purposes of prostitution. The woman was delivered to a motor home where members of the nationwide group, the Royal Order of Jesters — a not-for-profit group associated with the Masons — were meeting. Additionally, court papers filed in the investigation of a spin-off case involving prostitution at local massage parlors refer to a “judge” and a “police captain” as being frequent customers.  

SIMINOVSKY ON THE BROOKLYN BENCH 
Finally, The New York Post caught up with former Brooklyn snitch and disbarred divorce attorney Paul Siminovsky, who was recently released from prison after serving a four-month stint. Siminovsky’s testimony on bribery helped convict former Supreme Court Justice Gerald Garson, but the disgraced attorney says plenty of bad apples still sit on the Brooklyn bench. “There are three judges in Brooklyn that slammed me in the press,” he told the Post. “When I was taking them out to lunch or contributing to their election campaigns, they never said no to me. When I did that, I was all right, a good guy.” He added that, “The minor-league problem will always go on. Favors still get done, but I think it is cleaner in the sense that people are being more careful. I think people want to believe it is better.”