Thousands of state and local judges were allowed to keep positions of power and prestige after violating judicial ethics rules or breaking laws they pledged to uphold, Reuters reports. Judges made racist statements, lied to state officials and jailed defendants without a lawyer, and then returned to the bench, sometimes with little more than a rebuke. In the first accounting of judicial misconduct nationally, Reuters reviewed 1,509 cases between 2008 and 2019 in which judges resigned, retired or were publicly disciplined after accusations of misconduct. Reporters identified another 3,613 cases in which states disciplined wayward judges but kept hidden key details of their offenses, including the judges’ identities.
Nine of every 10 judges were allowed to return to the bench after they were sanctioned. They included a California judge who had sex in courthouse chambers, with a former intern and separately with an attorney; a New York judge who berated domestic violence victims; and a Maryland judge who, after a drunk-driving arrest, was allowed to return to the bench if he took a Breathalyzer test before each appearance. The findings describe an “excessively” forgiving judicial disciplinary system, said New York University law Prof. Stephen Gillers. Although punishment short of removal is appropriate for most cases, Gillers said, the public “would be appalled at some of the lenient treatment judges get” for substantial transgressions. Among recent cases: Texas Judge Jack Robison burst into jury deliberations, exclaiming that God told him the defendant was innocent. A Utah judge texted a video of a man’s scrotum to court clerks. He remains on the bench. Three Indiana judges at a conference got drunk and sparked a 3 a.m. brawl outside a restaurant that ended with two judges shot. Each returned to the bench after a suspension. Reuters found at least 5,206 people who were directly affected by judges’ misconduct.