Judicial Conduct Reporter

The Judicial Conduct Reporter, published quarterly, summarizes recent decisions and advisory opinions, reports developments in judicial discipline, and includes articles on judicial ethics and discipline procedure topics.  The winter issue (the first one in the year) reviews the previous year in judicial ethics and discipline:  reporting on discipline statistics, summarizing all cases in which judges were removed, and reviewing the top stories.

Most recent issue

Summer 2024

• Gifts and receptions for new judges
  Local bar associations, former colleagues, and friends understandably want to give gifts or parties to celebrate a new judge’s achievement.  This excerpt from an article in Court Review titled “So You’re Going to be a Judge” discusses the judicial ethics opinions advising that in general judges are allowed to accept such offers.
• Administrative responsibilities of judges
  Judges are administrators as well as adjudicators, responsible not only for deciding cases but also for ensuring that their court’s caseload is processed correctly and efficiently. There are numerous cases in which judges have been disciplined for failing to adhere to their administrative responsibilities.
• Agreed resignations
  As one of their tools in resolving complaints, some judicial conduct commissions will agree to close a matter against a judge if the judge agrees to resign or retire and never to serve in judicial office again, and that agreement is made public.  This article describes the procedures and agreements in several of those states.
• Recent Cases
  • “No filter":  A federal judge was publicly reprimanded and admonished for (1) subjecting his chambers staff to a hostile work environment, including unwanted, offensive, or abusive sexual conduct and harassment; (2) fostering a sexualized relationship with a clerk during and after her clerkship and, in the weeks following her clerkship when she was an Assistant U.S. Attorney, engaging in two sexual encounters with her; and (3) being dishonest with the committee.
  • “A personal brand of justice":  A Minnesota judge was publicly reprimanded for, in probation sentencing orders in at least five cases, restricting the defendants’ voting rights, contrary to a statute that he sua sponte held was unconstitutional.
  • “At the wrong time and in the wrong manner":  An Arkansas judge was publicly admonished for entering an order that purported to stay the Arkansas Supreme Court’s mandate regarding attorneys carrying firearms in the courthouse and that made “disparaging remarks” about the Court’s decision.

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