House Judiciary to Investigate Judges

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- The House Judiciary Committee is investigating the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati after complaints that rules were manipulated to affect a death penalty case and a University of Michigan affirmative action case.

The appellate court judges publicly differed in opinions involving the death penalty case of John W. Byrd and the affirmative action case involving admissions policy at the University of Michigan Law School, both of which reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

Afterward, an ethics complaint was filed against Chief Judge Boyce F. Martin Jr., with one of Martin's colleagues, Judge Alice Batchelder, saying Martin bent the rules in these cases.

The complaint was resolved by a judicial panel on July 31. However, Judicial Watch, a conservative Washington-based group, says the merits of the complaint were not addressed.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-judges-dispute,0,3122044.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines