In this episode, our editors Sophia Mietus, Michael Beckwith, and Teddy Rube sat down with attorney and advocate Aliza Shatzman to discuss the difficulties in holding federal judges accountable for harassment and abuse of their law clerks, and analyzed a possible legislative solution in Congress: the Judicial Accountability Act. Drawing from her own harrowing experience in the federal judiciary, Shatzman deconstructed the power structures that keep clerks, professors, and students from discussing federal abuses who are abusing their authority. The group discussed how federal legislation extending Title VII to the judiciary could provide protections for clerks and create a stronger culture for judges and clerks alike, and explored potential objections and responses to the legislation. 

Aliza Shatzman is an attorney and advocate who writes and speaks on the subject of harassment in the judiciary. You can read some of her writing on the Judicial Accountability Act in JLPP's companion outlet, Quorum.