Center files ethics complaint against former aide to Senator Edward Kennedy

The complaint charges that Johnson violated numerous provisions of the Disciplinary Rules of the Code of Professional Responsibility adopted by the State of New York

CFIF Files Ethics Complaint Against Olati Johnson

"Former Judiciary Counsel to Senator Kennedy violated New York State ethics rules, 6th Circuit Rules of Professional Conduct, and fundamental ethical obligations shared by all attorneys when she sought to manipulate and influence outcome of University of Michigan affirmative action case," says Center’s Executive Director.

Alexandria, VA — The Center for Individual Freedom today filed an ethics complaint with the First Departmental Disciplinary Committee in New York against Olati Johnson, the former aide to Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) who wrote the April 17, 2002, memo urging the Senator to delay consideration of a judicial nominee in order to manipulate and influence the outcome of the University of Michigan affirmative action cases then pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. Johnson, now an attorney with the ACLU, was co-counsel in the case, representing students in support of the University’s undergraduate affirmative action admissions policy when she was a staff attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

The complaint charges that Johnson violated numerous provisions of the Disciplinary Rules of the Code of Professional Responsibility adopted by the State of New York, the Model Rules of Professional Conduct adopted by the 6th Circuit, and fundamental ethical obligations shared by all attorneys to safeguard the integrity, independence and impartiality of judicial proceedings as "officers of the court."

"Olati Johnson’s obvious disregard for the fundamental rules and standards governing her profession necessitates immediate corrective action by the Disciplinary Committee," said Jeffrey Mazzella, the Center’s Executive Director. "She knowingly and willingly attempted to manipulate the outcome of a case in which she was co-counsel, all the time acknowledging it was wrong to do so."

New York’s Code of Professional Responsibility specifies that a "lawyer serving as a public officer or employee shall not participate in a matter in which the lawyer participated personally and substantially while in private practice or non-governmental employment."

"In her capacity as Judiciary Counsel to Senator Kennedy, Johnson had an ironclad obligation to recuse herself from working on judicial confirmations for the 6th Circuit while her case was pending before that court," Mazzella said. "Instead, she chose to ignore that obligation and a host of other ethics rules by which she is bound.

"She has shamed her profession, the organizations for which she’s worked, and the United States Senate," Mazzella added. "As the Disciplinary Committee contemplates an appropriate investigation, now the question becomes, what was Senator Kennedy’s role in ‘obstructing justice?’ The Senate Ethics Committee should immediately initiate an investigation to find out."

The Center for Individual Freedom (www.cfif.org) is a nonpartisan constitutional advocacy group that fights to protect individual freedom and individual rights in the legal, legislative, and educational arenas. Since 2001, the Center’s Confirmation Watch project has worked to expose and eliminate the corruption and manipulation that plague the judicial confirmation process.

###

• To download the Center’s complaint, click here (pdf).

• Return to Latest News Index
• Return to Confirmation Watch Index