On Friday morning, I received an email with the surprising news that I have been selected to receive the American Judges Association’s 2023 Gavel Award for distinguished reporting about the judiciary.

The award is to be presented during the organization’s annual meeting to be held in Honolulu beginning September 10.

This award recognizes legal journalism at its best and highlights the importance of journalism in educating the public about the legal system and the fundamental principles and values upon which that system is based. The review committee was impressed by your outstanding contributions to the judiciary.

I was floored, and quickly went online to look up the organization, which describes itself as “the largest independent, judge only, member driven organization in North America.”

Currently, AJA is the largest independent, judge only, member driven organization in North America. We include present and former judges of courts of all jurisdictions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and The Virgin Islands. We are inclusive and diverse. Some of us speak Spanish and French as well as English. We are a rainbow of colors, ethnicity, cultures and sexual orientation. We are bench officers in all sorts of courts: Tribal, Administrative, Municipal, State, Provincial, and Federal. Many of us hold administrative positions in our courts. We have found our way to judicial office by merit selection, appointment and by election. Many of us are retained in our office by some sort of political process. Diversity is our strength. Diversity drives and increases our value in speaking more robustly and more clearly as the Voice of the Judiciary and in using our peer mentoring models to Make Better Judges.

I soon learned that, without my knowledge, I had been nominated for the award by Associate Justice Sabrina McKenna of the Hawaii Supreme Court. Although not a member of AJA, she had been invited to participate in a panel at the organization’s upcoming annual conference to be held in Honolulu. After seeing a description of the award, she prepared and submitted the nomination.

In her letter to AJA, she cited various of my blog posts as well as columns and articles written for Civil Beat in two categories–those relating to political threats to judicial independence in Hawaii, and then to my reporting on the case of Mike Miske and the Miske Enterprise.

“Critically, his reporting provides information regarding the judiciary no longer covered by daily newspapers and local TV stations,” she wrote. “For example, Ian Lind has often used his journalistic voice to support the independence of the judiciary. He has written many articles…bringing public attention to attacks on the independence of the judiciary as well as other issues critical to an independent judiciary.”

She then provided links to a dozen articles published between 2011 and 2021 (links at the end of this post).

Next, McKenna’s letter highlighted my reporting on Miske case, putting it in the perspective of public education on the workings of the judicial system.

Since the 2020 indictment, Mr. Lind has painstakingly conducted investigative reporting regarding the background of this case, which alleges organized crime activities including murders and drugs while using legitimate business fronts. Mr. Lind has since published more than 100 articles regarding this indictment and people and cases connected to this indictment. He has provided the public with in-depth information regarding the workings of the judiciary, including information regarding investigations, search warrants, indictments and amendments thereto, court procedures, pretrial detention and release, discovery, witness tampering, attorney conflicts of interests, how defendants enter into plea deals, pretrial publicity and venue issues, and many other issues involving the judiciary.

The list of included links runs over a dozen pages and must have 200 entries, although I haven’t counted!

Rather than reproduce that extensive list here, I’ll refer you to the regularly updated list of Miske-related stories that have been published by Civil Beat.

To find posts that appeared on this blog, just enter “miske” in the search field over in the right hand sidebar and scroll through the results, or go directly to the results using this link.

Here is the shorter list of articles and blog posts on judicial independence cited in the nomination letter

Lowest salaries in the country limit interest in judicial appointments, not public disclosure

A history lesson: The Judiciary Scandal of the mid-1980s

Ian Lind: Why Is This Unpopular Idea Still Alive At The Legislature?

Senate bills hit judges in retaliation for court ruling on Hawaiian Homes funding

Another bill targeting judges up for public hearing tomorrow (March 15)

Legislature poised to retaliate against courts & judges

Judiciary column proved to be timely

Ian Lind: Hawaii Lawmakers Needlessly Renew Assault On The Judiciary

Bill targeting pensions of judges should be killed

Bill to slash judges’ retirement benefits died in conference committee

The continuing legislative attack on judicial independence

Legislative push-back could follow “gut and replace” ruling