Legal Ethics

  • The Washington Post logo

    Three judges, three scandals and new scrutiny of judicial accountability (06/09/2026)

    “When judges act badly, even in their private lives, it reflects badly on everyone else,” said Jeremy Fogel, a retired judge who now leads the Berkeley Judicial Institute, which works to promote an ethical and independent judiciary. “The focus in all three of these cases has to be the larger reputation of the judiciary and not just these three individual people.”

     

  • LA city attorney accused of ethics breach before settling major case for $18M (12/11/2025)

    Retired Judge and Executive Director, Berkeley Judicial Institute Jeremy Fogel said the city attorney’s phone call would not be something the State Bar would follow up on for an ethics review if — as her campaign manager said — she did not know Fox was an expert witness in the case, and thus, it sounds like there was no intentional wrongdoing.

  • Lawfare Daily logo

    How are the Courts Doing? (10/08/2025)

    Jeremy Fogel, executive director, Berkeley Judicial Institute joins Lawfare Daily to talk about how the courts are faring amidst the enormous stresses of the day: a huge number of legal challenges to Trump administration actions, a judiciary under constant attack from critics—including several instances of real violence—and serious intra-branch tensions. And to discuss why it is so crucial that judges retain their independence—and how to make sure they do.

  • New York Times icon

    Inside the Supreme Court Ethics Debate: Who Judges the Justices? (12/03/2024)

    Jeremy Fogel, executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute and a former California federal judge weighs in on the Supreme Court ethics debate.

  • Washington Post logo

    Sweeping bill to overhaul Supreme Court would add six justices (09/26/2024)

    Jeremy Fogel, executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute and a former federal judge and a judicial ethics expert, said expanding the court to 15 justices might improve the administration of the high court and cool the rancorous politics around nominating justices.

  • AP logo

    The ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag evolves from Revolutionary War symbol to banner of the far right (05/23/2024)

    “Displaying those particular flags creates the appearance at least that the justice is signifying agreement with those viewpoints at a time when there are cases before the court where those viewpoints are relevant,” said Jeremy Fogel, executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute at the University of California, Berkeley Law School.

     

  • New York Times icon

    At Justice Alito’s House, a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol on Display (05/16/2024)

    “You always want to be proactive about the appearance of impartiality,” Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge and the director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute, said in an interview. “The best practice would be to make sure that nothing like that is in front of your house.”

  • Roll Call logo

    Supreme Court to decide contentious issues amid ongoing criticism (05/08/2024)

    Jeremy Fogel, the executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute, said it’s “unfortunate” that Supreme Court ethics have become such a partisan issue, which has prevented the country from having a real discussion about how to handle the behavior of the justices. 

  • bloomberg law icon

    Judge Newman’s Upheld Suspension Has Some Questioning Ethics Law (02/08/2024)

    Jeremy Fogel, a retired federal judge who has also worked extensively on the issues of judicial ethics and mental health, said the situation surrounding Newman’s suspension illustrates broader problems with how the federal judiciary deals with aging in its ranks. Fogel said a protocol to assess judges’ cognitive function on a regular basis, implemented by the judiciary in consultation with experts, could reduce the kinds of confrontations that can emerge when a particular judge appears to show signs of decline.