In Re Complaint of Judicial Misconduct

FOR PUBLICATION

JUDICIAL COUNCIL

OF THE NINTH CIRCUIT

  IN RE COMPLAINT No. 10-90016

OF JUDICIAL MISCONDUCT

 ORDER

Filed February 2, 2011

ORDER

KOZINSKI, Chief Judge:

A pro se litigant charges that a judge made public com- ments that violated the Code of Conduct for United States Judges. She alleges that, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the judge gave a speech in which he stated he “had a sicken- ing feeling in [his] stomach about what might happen to race relations and religious tolerance” and that the “[c]riminalization of immigration laws” constituted “[i]nstitutionalized racism.” Complainant also alleges that, in another speech, the judge “criticized [a senator’s] work in try- ing to investigate campaign finance controversies involving [two individuals], both of whom eventually pled guilty to fel- ony campaign finance law violations.” (First two alterations in original).

A judge does not check his First Amendment rights at the courthouse door, to be reclaimed at the expiration of his judi- cial tenure. See generally Leonard E. Gross, Judicial Speech: Discipline and the First Amendment, 36 Syracuse L. Rev. 1181 (1986).…