Judicial Conduct and Disability

Congress has created a procedure that permits any person to file a complaint in the courts about the behavior of federal judges — but not about the decisions federal judges make in deciding cases.  The links below direct you to the rules that explain what may be complained about, who may be complained about, where to file a complaint, and how the complaint will be processed.  

Almost all complaints in recent years have been dismissed because they do not follow the law about such complaints.  The law says that complaints about judges’ decisions and complaints with no evidence to support them must be dismissed.  If you are a litigant in a case and believe the judge made a wrong decision — even a very wrong decision — you may not use this procedure to complain about the decision. An attorney can explain the rights you have as a litigant to seek review of a judicial decision.

The Rules for Judicial-Conduct and Judicial-Disability Proceedings adopted by the Judicial Conference of the United States on March 11, 2008, have been adopted by the Ninth Circuit as the Rules for Judicial Conduct and Judicial Disability Proceedings.  The Ninth Circuit Judicial Council has also adopted several local rules for misconduct proceedings.  All of these rules, the misconduct complaint form, and additional guidance about filing a misconduct complaint are available at www.ca9.uscourts.gov/misconduct/guidelines/.

Additional details and information are available at 28 U.S. Code Chapter 16 - COMPLAINTS AGAINST JUDGES AND JUDICIAL DISCIPLINE | U.S. Code | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu)