Happy 4th! (UPDATED -- and happy birthday to the blog!)

UPDATE -- I almost forgot! The blog turns 15 this weekend. The first post of the longest running Florida legal blog was way back on July 4th weekend, 2005 (calling for a Floridian to be appointed to the Supreme Court, which still hasn't happened!). HowAppealing and SCOTUSblog started things off and are still kicking, but most legal blogs have folded in favor of Twitter and other social media.  The blog has had over 3800 posts and over 4.6 million page views. I'm not sure how much longer I'll do this, but it's been a fun ride! Thanks to all the tipsters and readers over the years.  I really appreciate it.

ORIGINAL POST: For your reading pleasure, here's an article about judges behaving badly.  None of our judges made the list.  Here's my favorite one:

In Indiana, three judges attending a conference last spring got drunk and sparked a 3 a.m. brawl outside a White Castle fast-food restaurant that ended with two of the judges shot. Although the state supreme court found the three judges had “discredited the entire Indiana judiciary,” each returned to the bench after a suspension.

Some sad stats:

In the first comprehensive accounting of judicial misconduct nationally, Reuters reviewed 1,509 cases from the last dozen years – 2008 through 2019 – in which judges resigned, retired or were publicly disciplined following accusations of misconduct. In addition, reporters identified another 3,613 cases from 2008 through 2018 in which states disciplined wayward judges but kept hidden from the public key details of their offenses – including the identities of the judges themselves.

All told, 9 of every 10 judges were allowed to return to the bench after they were sanctioned for misconduct, Reuters determined. They included a California judge who had sex in his courthouse chambers, once with his former law intern and separately with an attorney; a New York judge who berated domestic violence victims; and a Maryland judge who, after his arrest for driving drunk, was allowed to return to the bench provided he took a Breathalyzer test before each appearance.

The news agency’s findings reveal an “excessively” forgiving judicial disciplinary system, said Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University who writes about judicial ethics. Although punishment short of removal from the bench is appropriate for most misconduct cases, Gillers said, the public “would be appalled at some of the lenient treatment judges get” for substantial transgressions.