J.L.

Edmondson
c/o Thomas K. Kahn, Clerk
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
56 Forsyth St. N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
RE: Reconsideration & Response to Order to Show Cause & Request for Investigation,
Complaint Nos. 01-0054, 02.0052, 05-0008, 05-0011, 05-0012, 05-0013, 05-0020, 05-0021

Judge Edmondson:

In your “Order to Show Cause” of May 2, 2005, you stated:

Of the eight complaints not specifically naming Judge Graham as the complained--of
judge, five name judges of this Court who served on panels reviewing Mr. Mason's
appeals -- panels that affirmed decisions and rulings by Judge Graham.

The truth and material facts that you have omitted either inadvertently or otherwise is that
your colleagues at the Eleventh Circuit have had multiple opportunities to test allegations of
misconduct, abuse, mismanagement for veracity, but have declined to so:

• Case No. 01-13664, direct appeal, an unpublished opinion, the only response and
“appellate review” with respect to whether or not Judge Graham failed to disqualify
due to alleged misconduct, abuse, mismanagement was the following: “Mason also
raises issues that relate to non-sanction matters, e.g., ..., the denial of his motions to
disqualify the district court and magistrate judges,...” See Opinion, pg. 10, Microsoft
Word, PDF. JudgeGraham was taken to task and excoriated by me in this appeal, but
yet there is no mention of the allegations, much less testing for them veracity or
remedying them.

• Case No. 01-15754. Similarly, a petition for mandamus was submitted on or about
October 2, 2001. This petition accused Judge Graham of misconduct. Your colleagues
simply ignored the allegations of misconduct by stating only the following in a one
sentence unpublished "opinion" :The " petition for writ of mandamus and petition for
writ of prohibition" is DENIED.” mmason.freeshell.org/15754/mandamus_denied.pdf .

The appellate review system is dependent upon the diligence and integrity of the individual
judges, without which, as in this matter, meaningful appellate review is an illusion. Some
could argue that the system has been mocked by the very people charged with maintaining
its integrity. The fact that your colleagues ignore an allegation of misconduct on appeal does
not support the idea that the judge has not committed these acts. In fact, the contrary is
true, applying Rule 8, Fed.R.Civ.P. “An allegation…is admitted if a responsive pleading is
required and the allegation is not denied.’ It is not my fault because you and your colleagues
ignore inconvenient truths simply because you disagree with reality. This is the very reason, I
have chosen to derisively refer to Judge Graham as “Teflon Don” because he like John Gotti,
the mafia boss, managed to escape the consequences of his bad behavior.

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A fact that I have found to be true is that when judges think they are correct they can be
quite verbose in their opinions. For example, in your ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE of May 2, 2005
you use three whole pages to support your position, the facts of which I dispute. In complaint
No. 05-0008, you stated:

In this complaint, the single (unsupported) allegation that has not already been
determined in previous complaints filed by Mr. Mason against Judge Graham is that
Judge Graham intentionally falsified his March 31, 2001, …

This statement certainly suggests that you have failed to consider the pattern and practice of
arbitrarily and deliberately disregarding prevailing legal standards to be punishable under the
Judicial Misconduct and Disability Act. On January 8, 2008, the Committee On Judicial
Conduct And Disability disagrees with your standards:

[A] judge’s pattern and practice of arbitrarily and deliberately disregarding prevailing
legal standards and thereby causing expense and delay to litigants may be
misconduct. However, the characterization of such behavior as misconduct is fraught
with dangers to judicial independence. Therefore, a cognizable misconduct complaint
based on allegations of a judge not following prevailing law or the directions of a court
of appeals in particular cases must identify clear and convincing evidence of
willfulness, that is, clear and convincing evidence of a judge's arbitrary and intentional
departure from prevailing law based on his or her disagreement with, or willful
indifference to, that law.

See Opinion online at:

Legal Standards of Misconduct

Judicial Misconduct has been defined by U.S. Judge Alex Kozinski, United States Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (citing Jeffrey M. Shaman, DePaul University Law, Steven Lubet,
Professor, Northwestern University Law, James J. Alfini, President and Dean, South Texas
College of Law, Judicial Conduct and Ethics, § 2.07, at 50 (3d ed. 2000)) , in part as:

Judicial action taken without any arguable legal basis —and without giving notice and
an opportunity to be heard to the party adversely affected—is far worse than simple
error or abuse of discretion; it’s an abuse of judicial power that is “prejudicial to the
effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts.” See 28 U.S.C. §
351(a); Shaman, Lubet & Alfini, supra, § 2.02, at 37 (“Serious legal error is more likely
to amount to misconduct than a minor mistake. See
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"[A] judge is guilty of "oppression in office" when that judge intentionally commits acts which
he or she knows, or should know, are obviously and seriously wrong under the circumstances
and amount to an excessive use of judicial authority." State v. Colclazier , 2002 OK JUD 1, 106
P.3d 138.

"Where honesty or integrity are at issue, a single action can result in a finding of judicial
misconduct." In re Hill, 152 Vt. 548, 572-75, 568 A.2d 361, 373-75 (1989);
http://www.libraries.vermont.gov/SUPCT/157/op90-478.txt.

"Canon 3A(5) is violated where there is a pattern of unreasonable delay or where a particular
instance is so lacking in legitimate justification that it is willful. See
URL:http://www.libraries.vermont.gov/SUPCT/157/op90-478.txt .

Specific Allegations of Misconduct that have been previously raised.

• Complaint No. 01-0054 charges Judge Graham with: (1) taking more than six
months to decide an in forma pauperis motion in Case No. 01-14078; (2)Failing to
state a lawful reason for denial of IFP in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court, ”SCOTUS”
decisions in Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25 (1992) and Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S.
319, 324 (1989); (3)taking over seven months to decide a leave to amend motion in
Case No. 00-14240;(4) than four months to decide an in forma pauperis motion in
Case No. 01-14201 and failing to state a lawful reason for denial;(5)In Case No. 99-
14027, on three separate occasions Graham has failed to do his duty and conduct a
"de novo" review. (DE #336); (DE #351); (DE #408); (DE #435); (DE #436); (DE
#466); (DE #766); (DE #791).
• Complaint No. 01-0068 charges Judge Graham with ordering the clerks to return
notices of appeals in Case Nos. Nos . 01-14078-CIV-Graham, 01-14230-CIV-Graham,
and 00-14240-CIV-Graham .
• Complaint No. 02-006 alleges that Judge Graham attempted invoked the criminal
contempt procedure without a sufficient legal basis. Additionally, that this complaint
alleges that Judge Graham invoked this procedure as a personal matter.
• Complaint No. 02-0052 in addition to acts alleged in other complaints, this
complaint charges Judge Graham with lying and intentionally misrepresenting the law
with respect to stating claims under 42 U.S. C. Section 1981.
• Judge Graham and his Magistrate usurped legal authority by allowing a
Magistrate to issue an injunction which is prohibited under 28 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)(a)
and ordering Mason not to communicate with his government, Highlands County Board
of County Communications. "[I]t is hereby ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that
Defendants' Motion for Preliminary Injunction is GRANTED...Plaintiff shall be prohibited
from contacting any of the Defendants, including their supervisory employees and/or
the individual Defendants, regarding any matter related to this case." See Docket
Entry No. 201. Among other things, these orders are blatant violations of the First
Amendment. SCOTUS has stated that prior restraints are presumptively
unconstitutional. New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971). Judge
Graham has declined to state a legal basis for this order on multiple occasion. This
allegation was mentioned in Complaint Nos. 01-0054, 02.0052, 05-0008, 05-0011, 05-
0012, 05-0013, 05-0020, 05-0021. This order is in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court
who has not issued a prior restraint on pure speech in over two hundred years. See In
re Providence Journal Co., 820 F.2d 1342 (1st Cir. 1986).
• Judge Graham and his Magistrate usurped legal authority by allowing a
Magistrate to issue an injunction that prohibited a litigant from requesting
Public Records under Florida law directly from a Florida Governmental
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 agency, Highlands County Board of County Commissioners. "ORDERED AND
ADJUDGED that Defendants' Renewed Motion for Preliminary Injunction is
GRANTED... Plaintiff shall correspond only with Defendants' counsel
including any requests for public records." See Docket Entry No. 246. This
allegation was mentioned in Complaint Nos. 01-0054, 02.0052, 05-0008, 05-0011, 05-
0012, 05-0013, 05-0020, 05-0021.
• Judge Graham lied and intentionally misrepresented the law. Judge Graham
told Mason that the law precluded him from asserting claims of intentional
discrimination under 42 U.S.C. §1981 against a state actor, Highlands County Board of
County Commissioners. See Docket Entries Nos. 435 and 466. At the very same time,
Judge Graham was allowing a plaintiff in another case Fa Nina St. Germain v. Highlands
County, Case No. 00-14094] to assert claims under 42 U.S.C. §1981 against the very
same state actor, Highlands County Board of County Commissioners. See Summary
Judgment, Case No. 00-14094. This allegation was mentioned in Complaint Nos. 01-
0054, 02.0052, 05-0008, 05-0011, 05-0012, 05-0013, 05-0020, 05-0021.
• Judge Graham outright lied or stated misleading facts in order to justify
rendering a clearly void sua sponte issued pre-filing injunction of September
20, 2001, (DE 878). In order to justify a pre-filing injunction a judge has to prove that
the legal process has been abused by the litigant by filing an extreme amount of
frivolous lawsuits. See Case Law Memo . Consequently, in order to meet the legal
requirements, Judge Graham lied about the amount of lawsuits filed. At pages 1, 2,
and 3 of Judge Graham's sua sponte issued pre-filing injunction, he attempts to list
eleven lawsuits that he claims were filed by Mason in the S.D.Fla. Mr. Graham states,
“Marcellus M. Mason ("Mason") has filed eleven (11)cases and/or counterclaims in this
District…” For the purpose of justifying the injunction, Mr. Graham counted the
following lawsuits as being "filed": (1) Case No. 00-14202, (2)Case No. 00-14201, (3)
Case No. 00-14116, (4) Case No. 01-14074, (5) 01-14078. In each of these cases
Mason filed petitions to file the lawsuit without payment of filing fees due to financial
hardship, in forma pauperis, "IFP". According to Mr. Graham’s own definition of
“filing”, "A complaint is not considered filed until the filing fee is paid." See (DE -10)
Case No. 00-14201. See also (DE -10) Case No. 00-14202. No filing fee was paid in
either of the above cases because Graham arbitrarily denied Mason the benefit of the
in forma pauperis statutes. Using Graham’s own definition there were only 11 minus 5
or 6 lawsuits “filed.” Case No. 00-14240 which Graham also counts was actually filed
by Highlands County, not Mason. Now Graham has only 5 lawsuits filed. Case No. 01-
14230 was filed in state court and removed to the S.D. Fla. by Highlands County after
Graham crafted the injunction where they knew the case would be assigned to
Graham. See Notice of Removal, URL: http://geocities.com/mcneilmason/secret/01-
14230/NoticeOfRemoval.pdf. Graham now has only four lawsuits that Mason filed, not
the 11 he concocted. See Litigation Summary,
URL:http://mmason.freeshell.org/LitigationSummary.doc . The four remaining lawsuits
Case Numbers 99-14042, 99-14257, 99-14314 were consolidated with Case number
99-14027.
• Judge Graham rendered a pre-filing injunction sua sponte and without notice and
opportunity to respond. See Case No. 99-14027, (D.E. #878). This is an act in direct
defiance of a long line of U.S. Supreme Court binding precedents that have stated:
(1)Right of Access to the Courts is constitutionally protected;(2)Deprivations of
constitutional require due process.
• Judge Graham made a so-called finding of bad faith, sua sponte. This is an act in
direct defiance of SCOTUS who has said: ““A court must, of course, exercise caution in
invoking its inherent power, and it must comply with the mandates of due
process, both in determining that the requisite bad faith exists and in assessing
fees…” Chambers v. Nasco, Inc., 501 U.S. 32, 50 (1991)”
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 • Judge Graham has been involved in possible criminal behavior by issuing a
void sua sponte pre-filing injunction which ultimately formed the basis of a
criminal contempt complaint and conviction. See Framing An Innocent Person . In
Weaver v. Sch. Bd ., 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 8128 (unpublished) (11th Cir. 2006), the
Court held that a litigant was entitled to “notice and an opportunity to be heard”
before a restriction was imposed on the litigant’s ability to challenge an injunction.
“Generally, a judgment is void under Rule 60 (b) (4) “if the court that rendered it
lacked jurisdiction of the subject matter, or of the parties, or if acted in a manner
inconsistent with due process of law. (emphasis added)” E.g.,Burke v. Smith, 252 F.3d
1260 (11th Cir. 2001). A void judgment is from its inception a legal nullity. U.S. v. Boch
Oldsmobile 909 F.2d 657, 661 (1st Cir. 1990). Equally egregious, the Eleventh
Circuit, has used all manner of tactics to avoid reviewing this clearly invalid
sua sponte issued pre-filing injunction. See Sua Sponte page.
• Judge Graham refused to rule on a motion for a preliminary injunction by
Marcellus Mason that had been pending for more than 19 months. The motion
was submitted on November 24, 1999 (Docket Entry No. 39) and was never ruled on
by Judge Graham. As late as April 2001, or 17 months after Mason filed the motion,
the Eleventh Circuit said a mandamus petition was frivolous, because Mason had no
right to have his motion decided. SeeNo Right To have Motion Decided . “Canon
3A(5) is violated where there is a pattern of unreasonable delay or where a particular
instance is so lacking in legitimate justification that it is willful.” See
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• Judge Graham allowed scores of other important motions to simply linger
without addressing them. Some of these filings languished for as long as eight
months. See Languishing Motions . This allegation was mentioned in Complaint Nos.
01-0054, 02.0052, 05-0008, 05-0011, 05-0012, 05-0013, 05-0020, 05-0021.
• On February 4, 2002, Judge Graham abused the criminal contempt process based
solely on personal criticism of him when he had no open case at the time. (D.E. 895)
and pg1.
• Judge Graham used the criminal contempt process to force the withdrawal of
a lawsuit. Robert Waters, AUSA, in a three way conversation, stated that Judge
Graham would drop the impending contempt charge if Marcellus Mason would drop his
lawsuit against Judge Graham, however, Marcellus Mason declined. Marcellus Mason
has complained to the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice and offered to take a
polygraph under the penalties of perjury.
• Judge Graham awarded a massive $200,000 in attorney's fees to Highlands
County against an indigent plaintiff, Marcellus Mason, not on the quality of
the underlying lawsuit, but based upon Judge Graham's mre speculation
about Mason's motive. Judge Davis who was originally assigned the case prior to
retirement allowing Mason to proceed in forma pauperis. Judge Graham used the sua
sponte issued pre-filing injunction to award $200.000 against Mason, a man Judge
Graham knew didn't have the money because he was proceeding in forma pauperis.
The award was based upon a void sua sponte issued pre-filing injunction. See Docket
Entry #882 . Judge Graham had pending summary judgment motions that he could
have used to determine whether the lawsuit had merit or not but he refused to do so.
Judge Graham specifically stated he was not going to follow the Supreme Court’s
standard and binding precedent in Christiansburg Garment Co. v. EEOC, 434 U.S. 412,
420 (1978). Judge Graham expressly stated “This takes the case beyond the analysis
of frivolity.” (D.E. 882, page 4).
• Judge Graham refused to obey this court’s standard in Johnson v. Georgia
Highway Express, Inc., 488 F.2d 714 (5th Cir. 1974) for making attorney’s fees award.

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 • Judge Graham has repeatedly and improperly denied access to the courts by
arbitrarily denying in forma pauperis, "IFP", petitions. In forma pauperis, or
"IFP" allow indigents to file lawsuits by waiving filing fees. Judge Graham denied 18 IFP
petitions for no stated reason. Judge Graham absolutely refused to cite any reason for
his denials. See IFP denial history. Judge Graham has defied the Supreme Court’s
decisions in Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25 (1992) and Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S.
319, 324 (1989);.
• Judge Graham attempted to circumvent the appellate process by using intimidation.
“Mr. Mason advised by the court that he is to no longer file pleadings in this case
because it is closed.” See D.E. 934. On January 9, 2005, Judge Graham issued an
order that he termed a "Notice of Hearing" in a civil case, 99-14027 to be held on
January 14, 2005. See D.E. 933. This hearing on a civil motion required U.S.
Probation and Lynn Waxman, appellate attorney, in a criminal case to be present. This
hearing was held under the guise of deciding Mason's pending one page request to file
a Rule 60(b)(4), Fed.R. Civ. P. motion. At this hearing, Judge Graham kept saying the
case is closed. Judge Graham decided something that day but he refused to put in
writing because he knew Mason would attack his ruling, so he a court report hand
write a threatening letter. See D.E. 934.
• Judge Graham falsely completed a Civil Justice Reform Act Report, "CJRA" to
conceal the fact that he had a motion for a preliminary injunction pending
for more than 17 months.

In your investigation, in the unlikely event that you cannot find proof of an allegation, I would
appreciate it if you would notify me and ask for factual support of allegation. It is difficult to
imagine how a fair investigation that does not have a pre-determined outcome would not do
such a thing.

One of my objectives in pursuing this matter is to define what is judicial misconduct under the
Act. This can be of benefit to other complainants and to other judges who must live under
the Act. In pursuit of these goals, it would be quite helpful if you list each allegation
separately and state whether they are true or not. Another goal of mine is to prove with
documentation that judges cannot be trusted to discipline other judges. Miscreant behavior
must have consequences!

Sincerely,

Marcellus Mason

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