Lawyers, Judges and Journalists
The Corrupt and the Corruptors
by
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“Bob, Richard Glanton here.”
“Richard, how the hell are you? Long time no see. What’s going on in the Office of Counsel to the Governor?”
“We’re swamped. Everywhere I turn, I find another crook in the executive branch.”
“I know that, and I also know that I wouldn’t want you and Jay Waldman on my case. What can I do for you?”
“What you can do for Dick is serve on the Judicial Inquiry and Review Board and help us get rid of some bad Judges. There’s no pay and no glory, but Dick thinks you are just the man to stop the downward slide of our judicial system. From the Supreme Court on down, it’s beginning to smell to high heaven.”
“Tell me about it. I’m in court almost every day and know for sure that we are sliding into the judicial Dark Ages.”
I barely knew anything about the Judicial Inquiry and Review Board. Few lawyers did. I knew the Board was supposed to monitor the conduct of all Judges in the state, at every level, including the Supreme Court. When necessary, it would recommend discipline for unethical behavior to the Supreme Court, our state’s highest court. It operated in secrecy and not many lawyers knew what went on there. The Board was created by the new Constitution in 1968. I never personally knew of a Judge who had been brought before the Board. I just assumed there wasn’t much judicial misconduct. Now, in my busy practice I was beginning to see and hear of judicial misconduct in many forms. Maybe I could make a difference. Maybe serving on the Board would be a good idea.
“Sure I’ll do it,” I told him.
“Dick told me that you would come on board. I’ll get the paperwork out this week.”
“Good to talk to you, Richard. I’ll stick my head in next time I’m in Harrisburg. Tell Jay I said hello.”
“Good luck, my friend. Give ’em hell!”
“Bye.”
And so it began.
When the paperwork came through, I was sworn in by Judge Melvin Levy as a member of the Board It would meet either in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, or Pittsburgh once every month. The Board consisted of three Common Pleas Judges, two Superior Court Judges, two lawyers, and two lay people. The Executive Director was Richard McDevitt. He acted as sort of a prosecutor. He would take complaints, investigate them, and, when appropriate, bring a matter to the Board.
At first, I thought everything was on the up and up. The Judges seemed to take the matters brought before the Board very seriously. The Chairman, President Judge of the Superior Court, Bill Cercone, seemed to provide firm leadership. After the first half dozen or so meetings, it dawned on me that I was a participant in a charade. The Board didn’t root out bad Judges. It protected them, operating under a cloak of secrecy with its five-Judge majority. The Board made its numbers by beating up on the minor judiciary, such as neighborhood justices of the peace, and would give a pass to the politically powerful. It was insiders protecting insiders.
I came to see that Cercone wasn’t providing firm leadership; he was keeping control of a perverse process while other Board members allowed themselves to be used. The minority, two lawyers and two lay members, were passive, while the Judges worked their will.
Seven months into my service on the Board, I received an engraved invitation from the Governor requesting the presence of “my lady” and me at a formal dinner at the Governor’s Mansion to honor the Supreme Court. It would be my first trip to the Governor’s Mansion. It promised to be interesting. I dressed in the custom-made tux that Jean had given me for Christmas and she wore a very stylish long dress.
The two-hour drive from Media to Harrisburg was mostly in silence. Whatever we had in the beginning was gone. I had become a very driven person who did not share my wins and losses with my wife. She had become the dutiful wife who arranged social events and took care of the house and children. There was no mutual joy, tenderness or warmth. We functioned in our respective roles.
As we pulled into the Governor’s Mansion, uniformed state police opened our doors. After presenting our invitations, we were escorted by the police to the double doors forming the entrance to the mansion. The doors were opened, revealing Dick and Ginny Thornburgh in the vestibule.
“Bob and Jean, we are so glad you could make it,” Ginny exclaimed in her usual enthusiastic manner. I saw her as a genuinely nice person.
Dick gave Jean the usual obligatory kiss on the cheek then turned to me. “Good to see you.” Then he whispered. “You’ll bring a little class to this party” as he looked around the room and rolled his eyes.
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About the Book
An idealistic trial lawyer who believes in the Rule of Law and the integrity of the judicial system is placed on a collision course with an amoral Supreme Court Justice. This true story, in narrative form, tells of the fall of this Justice and the battles of the lawyer with a judicial system that has been corrupted by the Justice. It describes the ascendancy of the trial lawyers who create crisis in the health care delivery system and the end of investigative reporting by the print media as a result of libel suits brought by justices and judges in their own courts.
This book names names. It is not a pretty picture. Those who like or need to believe that the judicial system works may be shocked. Those more sanguine might be troubled by discovering the depth and extent of the problem. The book raises serious questions about the conduct of many lawyers and judges.
The book also raises serious questions about the destruction of our core First Amendment rights and the viability and availability of due process in our courts.
It is a must read for all lawyers and judges and anyone else who is concerned with the loss of honor and integrity in our government and character in our leaders.
About the Author
Born July 8, 1933 in Chester, Pennsylvania, he was the middle of six children. A so-so student in high school but a committed athlete, he discovered history, government and politics and philosophy at the University of Maryland under the guidance of Gordon Prange, author of Miracle at Midway and At Dawn We Slept, the definitive books on Pearl Harbor and the navel battle of Midway.
After serving two years in the U.S. Army, he matriculated at Dickinson School of Law in 1957 and graduated in 1960, sixteenth in his class.
Admitted to the bar in 1961, he began practice in Media. In 1979, he met Dick Thornburgh who appointed him, upon election as Governor, to the Judicial Inquiry and Review Board. It was there he collided with Supreme Court Justice Rolf Larsen, a classmate at Dickinson, when he voted to remove Larsen from the Supreme Court. His vote resulted in a twenty-year battle with the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court.
He was the recipient of the 1987 Public Service Achievement Award from Common Cause/PA for his efforts to reform the Pennsylvania judicial system..
In 1993 and 1995 he was a candidate for the Supreme Court and in 1997 for the Superior Court.
His passion is the law and his 37’ sailboat Maverick on which he has raced to Bermuda six times, visited Cuba three times, sailed from Maine to Mexico and lived aboard in the Exumas.