I was buried in work in the Houston Chronicle newsroom when I first heard a rumor that seemed too shocking to be true: A federal judge sexually assaulted his top assistant inside a U.S. courthouse and she’d run crying from his chambers with her clothing in disarray. And no one would talk. For years, Cathy McBroom’s awful experiences remained locked inside a secret system in which federal judges review complaints about each other. As an investigative reporter and later as an author, I learned shocking details of what happened to McBroom and other victims that I could not publish—partly because sources were sworn to secrecy or feared powerful federal judges. After a years-long legal fight, U.S. District Judge Samuel Bristow Kent became the first federal judge in the nation’s history to be impeached for sex crimes—against McBroom and his own secretary—and eventually went to prison.
With the #MeToo movement, more troubling complaints began to surface about federal judges and other coverups nationwide. My book, Code of Silence, reveals the full story of the Kent case and the toll it took on McBroom, a native Texan. It also tells of other brave women whistleblowers and misbehaving federal judges in Washington D.C., California, Kansas, and many other states. Many of us heard Christine Blasey Ford testify in 2018 and remember Anita Hill’s testimony in 1991. And members of Congress have recently reacted to the Wall Street Journal’s 2021 series about judges who failed to follow federal disclosure laws or recusal rules with what seems to be complete impunity. My book explains how many other complaints of misconduct by powerful federal judges can be hidden, and the terrible implications for all when bullies remain on the bench. The following is an excerpt from Code of Silence.
— Lise Olsen
