Judge Nordby won't retire from fight with WATCH

When Hennepin County District Judge Jack Nordby criticized the group WATCH in an open courtroom last December, it was the latest, but apparently not the last, head butt between the two over how justice should be served.

In fact, they've had issues going back to at least 1997, when WATCH successfully lobbied to get Nordby removed from the felony arraignment calendar because they saw him as soft on granting bail. When Nordby was scheduled to handle those arraignments again in 2000, WATCH again asked a different chief judge, Kevin Burke, to keep him off.

"He was setting free nearly all the defendants regardless of the crimes," the group wrote in a letter. "Judge Nordby's decisions regarding bail pose a serious threat to public safety."

Burke ignored the group. But the letter shows that WATCH has at times been able to influence how sentences are given, and even who hands them down.

Last month, the Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards cited Nordby for misconduct for airing his dislike for WATCH in his courtroom. The board cited violations of three judicial canons and nine rules, including his duty to uphold the integrity of the judiciary and avoid conflicts of interest. Nordby is at the tail end of a long career and could walk away from the battle.

The fact that he won't doesn't surprise many of the people who know him.

Nordby, 69, grew up in Windom, Minn., and got a scholarship to Harvard, where he got an undergraduate degree in English and a law degree. He's seen as a pipe-smoking intellectual, a bookworm who can quote obscure poets and a "gold standard" brief writer with sharp opinions and a sardonic sense of humor.

That belief is what has him upset with WATCH. Friedberg said Nordby has researched state law and doesn't believe bail was meant to "protect the public," but to make sure defendants appeared in court. He also believes the current system keeps the poor in jail while allowing the wealthy bail.

Nordby wrote forcefully against a bill in the Minnesota Senate that would allow bail in some domestic abuse cases to be set at "any amount necessary." He cautioned against "outraged impulses" and reminded readers that defendants are presumed innocent, and reasonable bail is a constitutional right in Minnesota.

Marna Anderson, executive director of WATCH, says the letters were "isolated incidents," justified because Nordby let dangerous offenders go. In one case, she said, four defendants were held in custody by other judges, but the one Nordby set bail for was not.

No one can argue with WATCH's mission -- "to make the justice system more effective and responsive in handling cases of violence against women and children." Many people say the group is a valuable resource for victims. But more than a couple members of the legal community agreed that WATCH tries to intimidate judges and juries into giving the strictest sentences regardless of the facts.

"I'm not a big fan of Nordby," one defense attorney told me. "But I'm glad he said it. They can create a hostile environment in the courtroom and make it difficult to do our jobs."

Police officers, no fans of light bail, told me of a couple of incidents in which people they assumed were with WATCH acted inappropriately.

Anderson, however, convinced me that it was another monitoring group, and said WATCH sometimes gets blamed for the bad behavior of others. WATCH did a survey about their volunteers and received glowing reviews from judges and law enforcement, she said.

Despite the letter, Anderson denies that WATCH targets individual judges.

But Nordby is taking it personally, and will fight, friends say.

"He's a man of deep thought, deep conviction and enormous compassion," said attorney Andrew Birrell. "I think he would feel as a judge he has a right, and a duty, to speak up in certain circumstances."