Washington, DC— Today, the nation's first comprehensive study of the systems that hold state and federal judges accountable ranked Alaska 31st in the nation and issued the state's program a C-Minus grade. To shine a light on the typically toothless systems that often fail to remove abusive and incompetent judges from the bench, legal consumer watchdog group HALT, Inc. released its 2008 Judicial Accountability Report Card, analyzing programs in all 50 states, D.C. and the federal circuits.

"Alaska's system of judicial oversight is one of the most secretive in the nation," stated HALT Senior Counsel Suzanne M. Blonder, pointing to the complaint form for the state's Commission on Judicial Conduct, which instructs citizens that "the contents of your complaint and the fact that you filed it are confidential."

"By prohibiting consumers from discussing a complaint they have filed against a member of the judiciary, Alaska rules infringe upon citizens' First Amendment rights and prevent the public from learning when a judge has abused his position of power," explained Blonder.

Additionally, Alaska rules fail to place meaningful limitations on the reimbursement and compensation that judges may accept in connection with corporate and special interest funded trips. "Alaska's laws unfortunately include massive loopholes that still allow members of the judiciary to be wined and dined on the corporate dime," noted Blonder.

None of the top five states-Washington, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Arizona and California-scored higher than a B average on HALT's Report Card. More than half of the states received grades in the C range and HALT issued D's to 14 jurisdictions. Two states-Maine and Mississippi-flunked outright.

"At a time when the American public has lost faith in the impartiality and fairness of the nation's judiciary, it's critical that we have an effective system of oversight for judges," stated Blonder. "We hope that Alaska's chief judicial officers will work to transform a mechanism marred by secrecy into a system dedicated to upholding the integrity of the judiciary."