Recently, the D.C. Circuit performed a confidential workplace survey. And, somehow, that report leaked to Ann Marimow of the Washington Post.
In the survey, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, and in related interviews, current and former courthouse employees who acknowledged having witnessed misconduct described their reluctance to file formal complaints against their superiors. They cited fears of retaliation and distrust that the federal judiciary's system for workplace accountability, which tasks judges with policing one another, ultimately would resolve their concerns.
Granted, a leaked appellate court workplace survey is not on the same order of magnitude as a draft Supreme Court opinion. The D.C. Circuit is, after all, an inferior court. But this episode further illustrates a dangerous trend in which confidentiality of the courts is breached.
