Are judges immune from civil suits when they discharge law clerks?
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit addressed this issue in a case concerning a former law clerk for a judge on the bench in the New York Supreme Court (New York’s general jurisdiction trial court). The law clerk sued his former employer for wrongful discharge and invasion of privacy. The judge terminated the law clerk after he claimed that the judge was corrupt and that he had evidence of such corruption. He also alleged that the judge searched the law clerk’s desk. In the lawsuit, the law clerk claimed violations of both his First and Fourth Amendment rights. The Third Circuit indicated that the law clerk was in a special employment relationship with the judge. Just as a law clerk has access to a judge’s confidential thoughts in a case, a judge has access to a law clerk’s papers. Because the materials taken by the judge from the law clerk’s office were returned after a short delay, the delay was deemed not constitutionally unreasonable.
