State Supreme Court Rules that the State Bar Can’t Discipline a Sitting Judge for Judicial Misconduct

Judges are lawyers, and lawyers are subject to discipline by the State Bar. Does that mean that judges are subject to discipline by the State Bar? Generally not, according to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of North Carolina. Background. The case is N.C. State Bar v. Tillett. It began when police detained the son of a superior court judge. The judge subsequently launched an investigation into what he viewed as misconduct by the police department, city officials, and the district attorney’s office. The details of the judge’s conduct are not important for present purposes. It is enough to know that the Judicial Standards Commission ultimately issued a public reprimand to the judge, available here, finding that he had been “overly aggressive” in pursuing a “public feud” and had taken “actions that fell outside of the legitimate exercise of the powers of his office.” State Bar proceedings. Two years after the reprimand, the State Bar initiated disciplinary proceedings against the judge. The State Bar alleged that the judge’s conduct during the feud violated Rule 8.4 of the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct, which prohibits lawyers from engaging in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice. The judge moved to dismiss the complaint, and when that motion was denied, asked the state supreme court to intervene. Ruling. The court agreed to review the matter. It held that “while a judge remains in office, only this Court or the [Judicial Standards Commission] may impose discipline for his or her conduct [...]