Federal appeals court judge is accused of bullying her clerks

"A nonprofit group that advocates for law clerks has taken the rare step of filing a misconduct complaint against a federal appeals court judge, alleging she bullies and mistreats law clerks and that the courts' process for fielding such claims is broken. The complaint from the Legal Accountability Project against Judge Sarah Merriam of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit states that it is based on conversations with multiple former law clerks who fear retaliation if they come forward themselves."

""She is a bully, in all the ways one might bully their employees: yelling, berating clerks, sending all-caps unhinged emails," said Aliza Shatzman, president and founder of the Legal Accountability Project. The Legal Accountability Project complaint, which has not been previously reported, was filed earlier this month and reviewed by NPR. The group says it marks the second publicly known complaint in four years about Merriam."

A nonprofit advocacy group filed a misconduct complaint against Judge Sarah Merriam of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, alleging bullying and mistreatment of law clerks. The complaint is based on conversations with multiple former clerks who fear retaliation. The complaint is reportedly the second publicly known complaint about Merriam in four years. The courts typically handle such complaints internally to preserve judicial independence, and those internal processes often do not produce public accountability or meaningful consequences. An internal 2023 investigation into an unnamed Second Circuit judge found an 'overly harsh' management style and led to counseling and watching workplace conduct videos.

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