One of the documents is a Nov. 24 order by First Circuit Chief Judge David J. Barron, who wrote that he found “probable cause to believe that misconduct had occurred” by the judge for violating rules of judicial conduct that prohibit any form of harassment of court personnel.
Yet, he wrote that further action on the complaint was “no longer necessary because of intervening events,” which those familiar with the matter said was a reference to Wolf’s resignation on Nov. 7.
Wolf, 78, who was appointed to the bench by Republican President Ronald Reagan and served for 40 years, did not respond to requests from the Globe for comment about the law clerk’s allegations and the internal review.
Details about the allegations were not disclosed in court documents, and it’s unclear when the unnamed clerk first complained about Wolf. The internal misconduct complaint remains sealed.
In his order, Barron wrote that a chief district judge sent him a letter summarizing a lengthy interview with the former law clerk who provided “reliable information” about alleged misconduct. Specifically it related to “treating litigants, attorneys, judicial employees, or others in a demonstrably egregious and hostile manner; or…creating a hostile work environment for judicial employees.”
A panel of the Judicial Council of the First Circuit affirmed Barron’s order closing the misconduct case, according to a Jan. 27 filing by Susan Goldberg, the executive for the First Circuit.
Goldberg declined comment on the case.
For many who have spent time in Wolf’s courtroom over the years, the revelation that a law clerk had complained about his temperament came as no surprise. He has frequently berated attorneys who appear before him, and summoned high-ranking Justice Department officials to his courtroom to answer questions about cases before him.
At times, that work was heralded. Wolf forced the FBI and the Justice Department to admit publicly in 1997 that South Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger was an informant, then convened months-long hearings that exposed the corrupt relationship between the gangster and his handlers.
As the saga unfolded, Wolf threatened to order the Justice Department’s second-in-command jailed for contempt if he refused to disclose whether four reputed mobsters were also FBI informants.
Retired Assistant US Attorney Fred M. Wyshak Jr., who spearheaded the investigation that led to Bulger’s murder and racketeering conviction, said he witnessed Wolf’s aggressive behavior toward others often.
“He could often be abusive towards litigants and his court staff,” said Wyshak. In his opinion and experience, he said, appearing before Wolf was a game of “gotcha” where Wolf searched for even the slightest error or omission to intimidate people “or threaten the party with sanctions.”
At the time Wolf resigned, he had already been serving on senior, or semi-retired status since 2013. In a lengthy essay published in The Atlantic magazine in November, Wolf wrote that he was stepping down because he felt compelled to speak out against the Trump administration.
He wrote: “The White House’s assault on the rule of law is so deeply disturbing to me that I feel compelled to speak out. Silence, for me, is now intolerable.”
In an interview with the Globe a day later, he said he resigned so that he’s no longer bound by judicial ethics rules that have prevented him from voicing concerns about what he has called a politically driven attack by President Trump on the rule of law.
“Right now the courts are under vicious verbal attacks,” said Wolf, adding that judges can’t communicate with the public beyond what’s detailed in the decisions they hand down, and those findings are now often “drowned out” by misinformation.
The Legal Accountability Project, a nonprofit which supports law clerks, called the conclusion of the misconduct investigation into Wolf upon his resignation another example of a lack of accountability for federal judges who abuse their power.
“A judge’s departure from the bench amid a misconduct investigation does not eliminate the need for real accountability or transparency,” the group’s president and founder Aliza Shatzman said in a press release posted on its website. She said the outcome doesn’t represent justice “for the mistreated clerk who bravely reported the misconduct.”
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Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@globe.com. Follow her @shelleymurph.
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