On February 13, Deeva Shah testified before the House Judiciary Committee on "Protecting Federal Judiciary Employees from Sexual Harassment & Discrimination," as part of her work with Law Clerks for Workplace Accountability. The group is comprised of current and recent law clerks who, in the wake of published reports of harassment within the federal judiciary, banded together to help the federal judiciary combat these problems. The organization's mission is to ensure that the federal judiciary provides a safe workplace environment, free of harassment, for all employees and to assist the judiciary in reaching this goal. Deeva's testimony was covered by The New York Times in an article, "Federal Judge in Kansas Resigns After Reprimand for Sexual Harassment."
Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit retired after over a dozen former female law clerks and legal staffers accused him of sexual harassment and abusive practices.
According to the New York Times: "After Mr. Kozinski’s retirement in 2017, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said that the federal court system had to do more to protect employees from sexual harassment. In March 2019, court officials strengthened provisions about inappropriate behavior in their code of conduct."
"But some advocates say the changes did not go far enough. Investigations into misconduct typically end once a judge retires or resigns, said Deeva Shah, a founder of Law Clerks for Workplace Accountability, which seeks to root out harassment in the courts. Ms. Shah said that the investigations should continue past that point, and that employees should have more avenues to report harassment by judges outside their district or circuit, where officials may be sympathetic to the judge."
“'The public seems to be taking it more seriously, and I think that after 2017, the judiciary, to its credit, is also taking this seriously,'” she said. “'I’m just not sure that they’ve made the changes in the best way possible.'”
Deeva's testimony can be watched here.