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Judge: Pa. Jurists Immune from Liability for Courtroom Acts
We’ve written a bit, both here on the LB and in the WSJ, on whether Luzerne County, Pa., judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. would be granted immunity from civil suits filed by juveniles and families who claimed to have been hurt by their allegedly corrupt judicial rulings. (Click here for a recent LB post coverage of the Pennsylvania judicial scandal; here for a recent WSJ story on judicial immunity.)

Well, now we know. Federal judge Richard Caputo granted partial immunity to the judges, both of whom have been accused of taking kickbacks from juvenile detention centers in return for sending business their way, in the form of juveniles, many of whom were sent off for weeks or months at a time for relatively minor infractions.

Writing that judicial immunity does not operate on a “sliding scale,” Judge Caputo ruled that the judges are protected by immunity from facing legal action for their courtroom acts. “The degree of corrupt behavior is not the touchstone of the immunity doctrine’s application,” Caputo wrote, acknowledging that his ruling runs contrary to “popular will.” He added: “The doctrine holds that judges with bad intentions, as well as those with good intentions, are immune from suit.” Click here for the Legal Intelligencer story; here for the 26-page opinion itself. ...