Washington, DC— Today, the nation's first comprehensive study of the systems that hold state and federal judges accountable ranked North Carolina 36^th in the nation and issued the state's program a D+ 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.

"North Carolina's system of judicial oversight is far too secretive," stated HALT Senior Counsel Suzanne M. Blonder, noting that state rules allow some abusive judges to be sanctioned with private admonitions, and in these circumstances the public never learns of the judge's history of misconduct.

And unlike most state policies that allow citizens to speak freely about their ethics complaints against judges, North Carolina law threatens complainants with contempt if they disclose information filed with or obtained in proceedings before the Judicial Standards Commission.

"The vast majority of states have abolished these sorts of 'gag' rules," stated Blonder. "North Carolina'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, North Carolina fails to place meaningful limitations on the reimbursement and compensation that judges may accept in connection with corporate and special interest funded trips. "North Carolina's laws unfortunately include massive loopholes that still allow members of the judiciary to be wined and dined on the corporate dime," noted Blonder.

HALT's study did find that the Web site for the state's Judicial Standards Commission is easy to navigate and provides useful information, including a list of pending proceedings, a database of past disciplinary rulings and links to the state's Code of Judicial Conduct and disciplinary procedural rules.

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 North Carolina's chief judicial officers will work to transform a mechanism marred by secrecy into a system dedicated to upholding the integrity of the judiciary."