Judicial discipline
Does the Utah Constitution require that notice of disciplinary action taken against state court judges be made public? That's the implication in "Utah to change rules on judicial discipline" in today's Salt Lake Tribune. The story refers to a footnote in the Utah Supreme Court's opinion in In re Inquiry Concerning Judge Joseph W. Anderson. The footnote states:
I say let the sunshine in. Opening up the process and results of judicial discipline would be a good thing for the people of Utah.
Although the Judicial Conduct Commission has made extensive use of what it refers to as informal, or private, reprimands, we find no basis in the constitution for such a sanction. In fact, doing so has generally prevented both the public, and sometimes this court, from gaining any meaningful awareness of the extent and nature of judicial misconduct, if any, occurring within the judiciary. Should the Judicial Conduct Commission feel that no public sanction is warranted, dismissal of the complaint with a warning, or on conditions of no further misbehavior, may serve the same laudable purpose of correcting troubling but relatively minor misbehavior without offending the language of the constitution.
I say let the sunshine in. Opening up the process and results of judicial discipline would be a good thing for the people of Utah.


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