The Tennessee Court of the Judiciary

The Tennessee Court of the Judiciary is the organization that is supposed to police the judges in Tennessee.  It is comprised of mainly judges, some attorneys, and a few civilians - however, it is basically run by the judges.

As you have read in earlier posts, many things that would lead to criminal charges for everyday people have only warranted "private reprimands" by the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary.  What a JOKE!

There is currently legislation in the General Assembly that would abolish the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary and replace it with another entity to police and investigate judges.  However, and organization is only as good as the people who are running it.

The members of the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary (listed on the side of the reprimands that are linked in the below posts) are:

Don R Ash
Presiding Judge

Timothy R. Discenza
Disciplinary Counsel

Patrick J. McHale
Assistant Disciplinary Counsel

Chris Craft

David M. Cook

Angelita Blackshear Dalton

Joe F. Fowlkes

Christy R. Little

Richard A. Manahan

Paul Neely

Pamela L. Reeves

Kathy McMahan

Mary Martin Schaffner

Steve Stafford

Jean A. Stanley

Dwight E. Stokes

D. Michael Swiney

Thomas T. Woodall
 
 
Well, if we are examining the integrity of the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary, look no further than Christy R. Little.  Judge Christy, before she became Madison County Juvenile Court Judge, was the guardian ad litem in my own child custody case.  She is mentioned in my January 24, 2011 post:  My Story: For the Love of a Child, Part 1 of 4.

I filed a civil lawsuit, Winchester v. Little, 996 S.W.2d 818 (Tenn.Ct.App. 1998), against Judge Christy in the Madison County Circuit Court for violation of federal constitutional and civil rights, as well as state claims. The attorneys that represented Little were Thomas H. Rainey, John D. Burleson, and Dale Conder, Jr., all with the law firm Rainey, Kizer, Butler, Reviere & Bell. (You will hear a lot more about that law firm, as well as Little, in future postings.) The trial judge, Julian P. Guinn, dismissed the lawsuit on the basis of immunity. In other words, it did not matter what Christy did or did not do; since she was appointed by the court as a GAL, she was immune from liability - she could not be sued.  The Tennessee Court of Appeals also agreed that Christy was entitled to absolute quasi-judicial immunity - so no matter how many lies she told, no matter how vexatious they were, she cannot be sued.

JUDGES  PROTECTING  JUDGES!