Judicial Misconduct Complaint Dismissed

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Circuit Judge Wardlaw) dismissed a complaint of judicial misconduct

In lieu of submitting a statement of the facts underlying the allegations of misconduct, the complainant submitted an editorial that appeared in the Metropolitan News-Enterprise dated May 31, 2024 (“the editorial”), describing a 2021 trial during which a district court judge found an attorney in contempt and ordered the marshal “to take [the attorney] in custody” (the “contempt proceedings”). The editorial asserts that the chief judge “fail[ed] to instigate an investigation, as a circuit’s chief judge is statutorily charged with doing, in response to a credible allegation of misconduct on the part of a judicial officer in the circuit.”

…The misconduct complaint here alleges that the chief judge was in dereliction of her duties because she failed to investigate or identify a complaint based on the 2021 contempt proceedings described in the editorial. Central to this misconduct complaint is the assumption that the chief judge received information about the 2021 contempt proceedings at some point prior to May 31, 2024, and failed to take action.

The underlying inquiry is confidential

Based on the information gathered during this inquiry, and confirmed by multiple sources, it is clear that the chief judge did not become aware of the 2021 contempt proceedings until June 26, 2024, when another circuit judge first informed her about the editorial and, later that day, sent her a copy of the editorial itself. Once the chief judge received and reviewed the editorial, she immediately began conducting an inquiry process under Judicial-Conduct Rule 5.

Basis for dismissal

To the extent complainant alleges that the chief judge failed to act on known information, the allegation is dismissed because it lacks any factual support and is conclusively refuted by the results of this inquiry.

(MIke Frisch)