Dean Johnson joins other former clerks in supporting late Ninth Circuit judge's accuser

Dean Kevin R. Johnson joined 71 other former clerks for late U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt in signing a letter of support for a Reinhardt clerk who told Congress the judge sexually harassed her.

“We believe the clerk’s testimony that she experienced inappropriate conduct, including sexual harassment,” the former clerks said in an open letter circulated on Feb. 20 and quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle. A week earlier, Olivia Warren testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee that she had been harassed by Reinhardt while working for him in 2017-18. (Reinhardt died at age 87 in 2018).

“Some of us experienced or witnessed conduct in chambers that we would call sexist, workplace bullying or mistreatment. Others did not,” the letter reads. “Most of us were as shocked as the rest of the world to learn of the clerk’s experience in Judge Reinhardt’s final year. All of us, whatever our personal experience, are united that no clerk should have to go through this kind of ordeal and that it is important to stand with those who speak out about it.”