JUSTICE: Court of secrecy: How Richard Baumgartner, a drug-addicted judge, stayed on the bench despite warnings. Check out the photo.

I continue to wonder if the “wall of protection” erected around him by law enforcement has anything to do with the rather obvious foot-dragging in the Henry Granju case. There may be no connection, but it’s easy to imagine that law enforcement folks might have feared one would turn up if they looked into things. And there really was a lot of foot-dragging.

I’ll also note that if this kind of scandal happened in a private-sector entity, we’d be hearing criticisms of the entire enterprise, not just the players involved. Why is it different when it’s the government? People are covering for impaired judges in courthouses all over the country.