O'Connor stresses importance of judicial training, ethical standards; keys to building effective judiciary

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor says judicial training and established ethical standards for judges are key elements in creating effective judicial systems.

At a press availability following meetings last week with participants in the Arab Judicial Forum in Manama, Bahrain, Justice O'Connor observed that caseload management and judicial training programs were topics of particular interest among forum participants and suggested that follow-up conferences to address these issues would be in order.

In addressing questions regarding her impressions of Arab judicial systems, Justice O'Connor noted that whatever the differences between countries' judicial systems, "judicial training is key, I think, to making the system work. And another key element is something related to having a clear and enforceable ethical standard for the judge."

O'Connor also underscored the importance of adequate pay for judges "so that they have [a] decent standard of living as a judge and we hope would be less tempted to engage in unlawful behavior for the performance of a judge."

"What you want in place is a cadre of judges that are basically independent," O'Connor said, "and will apply the constitution and laws of the country as they are written without resort to pressure from outside influences."

Following is the text from the Press Availability:

(begin transcript)

Press Availability Justice Sandra Day O'Connor Arab Judicial Forum Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain September 17, 2003

Justice O'Connor's opening statement: We are indebted to the Kingdom of Bahrain for initiating the meeting and for providing good facilitators and moderators for the discussions, and for making the participants feel comfortable enough to candidly exchange views on all these topics.

Various suggestions were made on all the topics that were discussed. I suspect that most of the participating countries will try to make use of a number of those suggestions and do some follow up work. I am also pleased to have been able to report to the participants at the conference that the United States, through its Middle East Partnership Initiative, is available to participate in helping with some follow up conferences on some of the areas that were identified by the participants.

One of the areas of interest was in how to do case management in areas where there are heavy caseloads and in the possibilities of alternative dispute resolution such as mediation and how to handle large numbers of cases expeditiously and possibly out of court. This is one area which I think the Middle East Partnership Initiative can help by putting on another conference to deal with those issues.

Another area of interest expressed by participants at the Forum was how to develop judicial training programs, both for new judges to train new people coming on the bench, and ongoing training programs for judges over a period of years of service such as we typically use in the United States. And again, the United States is willing and able to participate in co-hosting something in the area of judicial training of both types.

So I would say that this is a first such conference, not the last.

Q: I would like to ask about the prisoners in Guantanamo. A number of people have been arrested from some of the countries that are participating in this Forum, and I would like to have a legal opinion from you.

A: Well, I don't think it would be appropriate for me to try to express a legal opinion about that situation. It could well be that, in time, the court on which I sit will get some question related to that and I would not be in a position at this time to try and give you some kind of overall analysis from a legal standpoint.

Q: Several groups in Bahrain have used this event to call for changes in the legal system in Bahrain. How do you view this?

A: Well, I am not informed about specific problems or specific demands by groups in Bahrain but we have discussed, as I explained, various ways in which judicial systems can be improved and strengthened and there is no doubt in my mind that to the extent that a nation take steps to improve and strengthen their judicial system that in time all the citizens will be better off because of it. Every nation benefits from that kind of improvement.

Q: Does the American Administration translate its great interest in judicial reform through allocating a certain budget to improve and develop various mechanisms that can lead to the improvement of judiciary in the Arab World? Is there a certain budget for this?

A: I don't know that I understand the question. Could you explain? Are you asking how much money is set aside by the U.S.? I can't answer that question maybe you know, Alina?

Alina Romanowski: Under the Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative, we have as of this year is approximately $129 million that will support programs in a whole number of areas. For fiscal year 2004, we are asking Congress for $145 million. These figures are in addition to funds that we already have to support these kinds of initiatives.

Q: Your Honor, my name is Mohamed Fadhel and I am from Agence France Press (AFP). Before I ask my question, I have a comment for the organizers here. I think we are talking to a judge from the highest court in the U.S. and as long as we are emphasizing democracy and transparency, there is no need to have such comments that we do not speak about this point or that point. I think her honor has the right to respond to any question or not so please do not give us the feeling that we have limited options in putting our questions.

Your honor while this important forum is proceeding, last night the U.S. used its veto against a draft from the Arab group in the United Nations regarding the Israeli attempt to deport Palestinian President Yasser Arafat ...

Moderator: Please ask a question relevant to the judicial forum. If it is not relevant, we will not be able to take the question. I hope that the question is directly related to the Arab Judicial Forum or any question about the United States Middle East Partnership Initiative

Mohamed Fadhel: My question is about the partnership initiative. You mentioned the Middle East Partnership Initiative and this first step here to implement such an initiative while there in the U.N. another side of the American policies exist. Don't you think that this is a contradiction in the American stance, which may have built mistrust in U.S. policies in general including the initiative itself? I am talking about the initiative.

A: I can't answer what the response will be. I can only tell you from my perspective as a judge in my country the importance which I place in every country on having a good judicial system, and that was the focus of this forum. And I think it is helpful. I think the discussion was good. Now whether it gets mixed up in some other issue I can't say. You probably could answer that better than I, but I think that what we did here was worthwhile, I think it is valuable for every country to talk about its judicial systems and equally so here. So I hope it was helpful. And I don't know how it will be seen in a broader context.

Q: Your Honor, you have participated in the discussions and you supervised some of them, could you assess for us the current state of the judiciary system in the Arab World. What changes do you think are required to reach the reforms we have been talking about?

A: As I understand it, most of the participating countries have by and large patterned their judicial and legal systems after that in Egypt. And Egypt in turn patterned its system basically after that of France. France is a civil law country; a civil law system, one in which judges tend to be selected very early in their careers. They can make a career choice as a university student to become a judge and it's a little like a civil service system. You take training as a judge and become a judge and work initially in the lowest courts and work your way up in time. Common law countries such as my own have a different sort of a system and we tend to select our judges from among lawyers and legal practitioners who have some years of experience and training and who have proven themselves over time to be distinguished in the legal field and we tend to take people as judges much later in life. So you are looking at two quite different systems but certainly the system adopted in civil law countries in which most Arab nations have adopted is one that could work just fine, but it requires considerable training of the young judge who is entering into a profession in which they probably have no experience whatsoever. They start as young people and need low-level experience to work their way up. I think that it can work just fine, but judicial training is key, I think, to making the system work. And another key element is something related to having a clear and enforceable ethical standard for the judge. And almost all the Arab nations have agreed in prior conferences to a basic set of principles or standards for judicial conduct and I think if those can be adopted and enforced in each country it will go a long way towards ensuring the kinds of performance that you would hope to have. I also think that a necessary component for a good judicial system is to be sure that the judges are adequately paid so that they have decent standard of living as a judge and we hope would be less tempted to engage in unlawful behavior for the performance of a judge.

Q: What were the results of the meetings and what were the recommendations. What is your assessment of these recommendations on one hand, and on the other, is there going to be further judiciary cooperation between the United States and Arab countries. Is there a change in the legal view or the legal affairs that are related to human rights and the improvement of judiciary systems in the Arab Nation?

A: I always enjoy visiting with judges from other nations. We have a lot of common interests. We end up having to resolve many similar problems. We're all concerned about what are the best ethical standards for judges. How do we enforce them? How should judges be selected? How long should they serve? Should there be a term of years or something longer? These are common issues of interest to all of us. How do we resolve our caseloads? How do we manage with very heavy caseloads? Is there some better way to resolve problems? These are matters of common interest, I think, that cross national boundaries. And we saw that once again in this Forum.

Q: In Bahrain's very young constitutional monarchy, how would you assess its level of judicial independence?

A: That very hard for me to say. Because I do not know as a practical matter what kind of pressure might or might not be put on judges here. What you want in place is a cadre of judges that are basically independent and will apply the constitution and laws of the country as they are written without resort to pressure from outside influences.

Q: What is your view of the judiciary in the Arab World? Do you think that this system must be reshaped and do you believe that we should apply what is applied in America so that we do things correctly?

A: A number of ideas emerged from the discussion that we had from the participants from the various countries. And you will be able to get a copy of the comments that were made, the various suggestions. Not all of them were unanimously approved. Some had a wide margin of agreement, some ideas fostered more discussion than others. But when you read the comments, you'll get a sense of what the participants themselves thought would be helpful in this region. And I think that they are better able to speak to that than I am. I would not for a moment think that any nation should copy our system in its entirety. We have our own problems to address. Every nation has to be concerned basically with developing a sound legal and judicial system and the components that I mentioned earlier I think are important in doing that. But beyond that there need not be any particular uniformity.