- The Kansas Supreme Court suspended a judge without pay for 90 days for (1) making offensive and demeaning comments of a sexual nature to female attorneys and staff members; (2) sending an ex parte email to an attorney’s client that expressed bias or prejudice toward the attorney, in part based on the judge’s apparent disagreement with the attorney’s moral beliefs; and (3) trying to broker an employment opportunity for his wife.
- Granting 2 unrelated petitions to accept stipulations, the New Mexico Supreme Court ordered the permanent resignation of 1 judge and the permanent retirement of another.
- The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct censured a judge for (1) being discourteous to 2 defendants and committing them to jail for summary contempt without following the procedures required by law and (2) making injudicious statements to and about attorneys. Based on stipulations of facts and stipulated violations, the Ohio Supreme Court suspended a magistrate for 2 years for exhibiting a demeaning attitude toward counsel and litigants in 2 matters; the Court stayed the suspension conditioned on his committing no further misconduct and complying with a contract with the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program.
- The Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the U.S. Judicial Conference denied a petition for review of an order dismissing a complaint that a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit made statements during a public lecture on the death penalty that exhibited bias toward certain classes of judicial claimants and claims or that were related to the merits of pending cases.
Judicial ethics and discipline 