Are Federal Courts bonded? Are Federal Judges or Federal Prosecuting Attorney's bonded too?

Question

If this is true, then, which company does the bonding?

Answer 1

Of course they are. They're covered under a "Blanket Employee Honesty Bond" which pays off if they get their hands in the til. Same as all government workers. But the coverage is not of the court itself, but rather of the individuals who occupy various positions in the court and justice system. The cost of a typical bond is based on how many people occupy various jobs, and the amount to be insured. The coverage is "blanket," either for everyone or for categories of employees. Thus, judges, as a class, may be covered at a $500,000 limit, and court reporters, as a class, for $25,000. The amount applies per person, per loss.

Who writes the coverage? Some may be self-insured and administered by a third party; otherwise the coverage probably goes out to bid every 3 years, the usual terms of such bonds. I wrote a lot of them when I worked at a big DC agency. It is regarded as very SAFE business from an insurance stand-point, so the cost is cheap.

If you mean "performance" bond -which is a promise to do a good job, or perform a certain act, that's something else again. Such bonds are not written on the employees of the justice system, but are often required of sub-contractors, for example, stenographers who come from an outside service. And obviously they are required of some defendents ("bail bonds") to assure they'll show up in court. Legal and ethical enforcement for people in the system -the "officers of the court," including the judges, comes from a system of professional committee review and grievance procedures. These are often made into law. Being sanctioned is such a heavy penalty that bonds are kind of irrelevant.

But that still leaves open the possibility of bad judgement calls and incompetence that occur "honestly." Coverage for that falls under "Public Officials Liability Insurance" and "Errors and Omissions Insurance" which basically insures against money damages arising from a "wrongful act" or making a BIG mistake when you shoulda known better. The big players in this field are the Chubb, AIG and a few others, and much of the business is reinsured off shore or through Underwriters at Lloyds of London. States and cities have formed their own associations to find markets for this and other public entity insurance.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

No, judges and attorneys are not usually bonded.

They don't need to be. Bonding is a monetary incentive to ensure proper performance.

A judge or attorney who violates their code of ethics can be disbarred, losing their license and profession. That's much worse than forfeiting the money for a bond.