Washington, DC— Today, the nation's first comprehensive study of the systems that hold state and federal judges accountable ranked Kentucky 38^th in the nation and issued the state's program a D+ grade. To shine a light on the typically secretive and 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.

"Kentucky's system of judicial oversight is far too lenient on even the most abusive members of the judiciary," stated HALT Senior Counsel Suzanne M. Blonder, noting that state rules allow some dysfunctional judges to be sanctioned with private admonition, and in these circumstances the public never learns of the judge's history of misconduct.

In 2004, Perry County Circuit Judge Douglas Combs Jr. faced 13 charges of misconduct, including chronic absenteeism, improper hiring and other questionable actions. Yet Combs was allowed to resign rather than risk losing his pension, which could have occurred if he had been found guilty of the charges and removed from the bench.

And unlike policies in most states that allow citizens to speak freely about their ethics complaints against judges, Kentucky rules prohibit disclosure of information filed with the Judicial Conduct Commission. "The vast majority of states have abolished these sorts of 'gag' rules," stated Blonder. "Kentucky's restrictions not only violate citizens' right to free speech, they also keep the general public in the dark about whether the system of judicial oversight is operating effectively."

Additionally, Kentucky rules fail to place meaningful limitations on the reimbursement and compensation that judges may accept in connection with corporate and special interest funded trips. "Kentucky'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 Kentucky's chief judicial officers will work to transform a mechanism marred by toothlessness into a system dedicated to upholding the integrity of the judiciary."