Judicial Conduct Commission revises rules

The Judicial Conduct Commission, which investigates complaints against Utah judges, has fine-tuned and reorganized the rules under which the commission operates.

The new rules will go into effect Feb. 1.

Colin Winchester, the commission's executive director, said there are two objectives to changing the rules. "When I came here, the processes seemed to be working quite well but were slightly different in some areas. This makes the rules come into compliance with the practices."

In addition, a 2003 legislative audit recommended some alterations. One example: In the past, if a person filed a complaint against a judge and the commission dismissed it, there was no avenue for an appeal. But auditors suggested creating a method for handling appeals, so the commission has incorporated an appeals process.

"Now you have 30 days to file a letter saying, 'You missed this point,' or 'I wish you would have considered this issue,' and we will look again," Winchester said. "In effect, we're going to look at one complaint twice sometimes."

Many of the changes have simply reorganized existing rules, although some additions have been made.

"We used to have one big rule with 17 subparts. Now we have four rules; we've broken them down by area of interest," Winchester said. "It's an improved organization of the rules, it's easier to find. If you need to look for procedures, you know you have to look for the procedure rule."

The commission recently revamped its reprimand procedure as a result of a decision by the Utah Supreme Court involving the dismissal of 3rd District Juvenile Judge Joseph Anderson.

The high court said in that opinion that the commission could not issue private reprimands. But the commission is able to dismiss a complaint but still warn a judge privately about his or her conduct if the behavior is not serious.

However, the revised rules include language about how dismissals with warnings should be used and their limitations.

The commission has been working on the rule changes for a few years, with Winchester bringing drafts to meetings, the commission making suggestions for change and Winchester redrafting the language of the rules.

There also have been two public comment periods during which the commission heard from citizens as well as some judges, a representative from the governor's office, the Utah Supreme Court and some legislators.

"They are, in my opinion, more tailored to actual Utah practices whereas the old rules were based on a national model that didn't necessarily fit well," Winchester said. "These are specifically written for Utah, and what our constitution and statutes say we can do and should do and must do."

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