Russian Judges To See Slice of America

Buoyed by nearly $10 million in funding for this fiscal year, the Library of Congress is expanding its Russian Leadership Program to include that nation's judges among visitors to the United States. And American judges are delighted.

"How better to gain insight into just what the rule of law means?" said Judge Michael H. Mihm (C.D. Ill.). "That term is still being defined in Russia."

Since 1999, the Library has arranged intense, short-term visits for more than 3,600 emerging political and civic leaders from Russia, including 150 members of the Russian Parliament.

The visitors, who typically stay a week to 10 days, are exposed to American life and the nation's democratic and free-enterprise system—through high-level meetings and community-based observation and experience.

The pilot groups of Russian judges will pay week-long visits in late July and early August to three U.S. cities—Baltimore, Maryland, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Peoria, Illinois—after a two-day orientation in the nation's capital.

"This opportunity to view the mechanics of our justice system, to see our democracy in action, could enable these able Russian jurists to take back some new ideas and adapt them to their system," said Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange (W.D. Okla.). "This time together, judge to judge, can do nothing but bring people together and facilitate the free exchange of ideas."

Mihm, a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on International Judicial Relations, said "total immersion" is the program's key feature.

"Russia is an infant democracy, and under the old system judges had a very poor status. They were not considered by anyone, including themselves, to be independent," he said. "It's important for them to come here to see the status American judges have. It is hoped they'll go home with a heightened sense of their own worth.

"When we're talking about American judges we're talking about individuals who enjoy a high degree of freedom to do what they think is right," Mihm said. "We're not going to tell our Russian guests that our way is the best way, only that this is what we do and why we think it's what works best for us. Maybe, when they go home, some of these ideas can be incorporated into their culture."

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington attended a meeting of the Judicial Conference Committee on International Judicial Relations to discuss expansion of the Library’s Russian Leadership Program to include week-long visits to various U.S. cities by Russian judges.

The four Russian judges who visit Peoria are to stay at Mihm's home along with an English-speaking facilitator. Each of the judges chairs a region's Council of Judges. (Russia has a national Council of Judges patterned after the Judicial Conference of the United States. Each of 80-plus regions has its own council chaired by someone elected by peer judges.

"There's not much of a history of getting small delegations of judges spread out across the country. They're going to see a lot of different slices of America," Mihm said.

In Peoria, those slices include a weekend barbecue and a visit to Wildlife Prairie Park in addition to meetings with state and federal judges, local legislators, and news media representatives.

A state appeals court will meet for the first time in Peoria and conduct two oral arguments, one in a civil case and one in a criminal case, so the Russian judges can observe in person. The Illinois Supreme Court authorized the appeals court to hold the sessions in Mihm's courtroom.

The four Russian judges who visit Oklahoma City will be "so tightly scheduled they'll likely be exhausted at the end of each day," Miles-LaGrange predicted. Planned activities include sitting in on state and federal court proceedings, attending a mock trial and law school lecture on the teaching of trial practice, a session on alternative dispute resolution, and even a night at the Lazy E Ranch for the North American Team Roping Finals.

Over the next 15 months, the Library of Congress plans similar visits by 200 to 300 Russian judges. The next wave is scheduled for September, when Denver, Boston and St. Paul will be the host cities.