Frequently Asked Questions

Q.	Why was RateTheCourts.com created?
A.	RateTheCourts.com was created 1) to provide a constructive and user-friendly means of evaluating the nation’s judiciary on a continuous basis with real-time reporting of results, and 2) to compliment the features of CourthouseForum.com, its sister website.

Q.

What is the source for the judicial evaluation survey criteria?

A.

In February 2005, The American Bar Association issued its Black Letter Guidelines for the Evaluation of Judicial Performance ("ABA Guidelines"). Part I of each survey includes the criteria set forth in the ABA Guidelines. Part II of each survey is primarily derived from criteria used by the Colorado Commission on Judicial Performance for evaluating the performance of Colorado judges, and from other sources. The grading format is derived from the Colorado Commission's Questionnaires. Since more than one source is used, certain criteria in Part I and Part II will overlap. ABA Guideline 6-4 states "The evaluation process must ensure the anonymity of individual respondents."

Q.

Why are surveys and comments allowed to be made anonymously?

A.

We allow surveys and comments to be made anonymously in order to encourage attorneys, litigants, jurors, judges and others who are informed about a particular judge, to give their opinions openly, honestly and candidly.

The American Bar Association’s recently issued Black Letter Guidelines for the Evaluation of Judicial Performance (February 2005), also addressed the importance of anonymity in connection with judicial evaluation surveys. Guideline 6-4 states "The evaluation process must ensure the anonymity of individual respondents." The commentary to this Guideline states, in part, as follows:

Regardless of the intended use of the performance evaluation, the program must ensure the anonymity of respondents to performance questionnaires and of members of the public who submit narrative comments. The reliability of the evaluation process depends on the willingness of evaluators to provide candid and honest feedback without fear of reprisal.

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Protecting the anonymity of respondents is of particular concern in smaller jurisdictions and in jurisdictions where prosecutors and/or public defenders are assigned to particular courts. . . . Program administrators in these jurisdictions should consider extending data collection periods, limiting the demographic information that is requested of respondents, and/or providing limited or aggregated results to prevent identification of respondents.

The importance of anonymity in speech was addressed in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm’n, 514 U.S. 334, 115 S.Ct. 1511 (1995). In McIntyre, the Supreme Court said that "[a]nonymous pamphlets, leaflets, brochures and even books have played an important role in the progress of mankind." Id. at 341-341. The "decision in favor of anonymity may be motivated by fear of economic or official retaliation, by concern about social ostracism, or merely by a desire to preserve as much of one's privacy as possible." Id. "[A]nonymous pamphleteering is not a pernicious, fraudulent practice, but an honorable tradition of advocacy and dissent." Id. at 357. "The right to remain anonymous may be abused when it shields fraudulent conduct. But political speech by its nature will sometimes have unpalatable consequences, and, in general, our society accords greater weight to the value of free speech than to the dangers of its misuse." Id. In Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844, 870 (1997), the court said that "the First Amendment's protection extends to the Internet." "Through the use of web pages, mail exploders and newsgroups, [any person] can become a pamphleteer." Id.

Q.	Does Government Forums, Inc. save IP addresses or ISP information of visitors to RateTheCourts.com?
A.	No.

Q.	Does Government Forums, Inc. store "tracking cookies", adware or spyware on visitors' computers?
A.	No.

Q.

How are the survey responses and comments displayed?

A.

Survey responses are displayed in several formats. For each judge, results are displayed as an overall average from all surveys submitted, and also in detail be each criteria. When the criteria grade or score is clicked, a pop-up will display the detailed responses for that criteria. Survey responses will also be displayed in a graphical presentation, by displaying a trend line of the average score and the survey volume on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Q.	Can I correct a survey response or comment once it is submitted?
A.	No, since surveys are submitted anonymously. Therefore, please carefully review your survey response before clicking the submit button.

Q.	Can I view the responses for each individual survey?
A.	Yes.

Q.	Does RateTheCourts.com have a graphical presentation of a judge's survey responses?
A.	Yes. Responses can be viewed by the type of respondent in a pie chart format. The average daily and monthly grade from all surveys are viewable in a bar and line graph format.

Q.	How does RateTheCourts.com interact with CourthouseForum.com?
A.	RateTheCourts.com interacts with CourthouseForum.com by sharing the same database. In other words, surveys submitted in RateTheCourts.com are included in CourthouseForum.com, and visa versa. Additionally, for each judge in RateTheCourts, there is a link to the CourthouseForum.com discussion forum for the judge.

Q.	Who is the owner of RateTheCourts.com?
A.	Government Forums, Inc., a Nevada corporation?

Q.	Does Government Forums, Inc. have any affiliation with any advocacy, political or religious organizations?
A.	No.