Complaints Against Judges — Judicial Business 2021

Correction Made in February 2024: Updates to the underlying data resulted in revised totals for complaints against judges.

Under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 351-364, any person alleging that a judge has engaged in conduct prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts, or that a judge cannot discharge all the duties of the office because of physical or mental disability, may file a complaint with the clerk of the court of appeals for the circuit in which the judge holds office or, if the judge serves on a national court, with the office specified in that court’s rules. The complaint must concern the actions or capacity of a circuit judge, a district judge, a bankruptcy judge, a magistrate judge, or a judge of a court specified in 28 U.S.C. § 363.

In 2021, the methods for collecting and reporting complaints against judges were revised during a systems modernization project. These changes, which improved the tables and design of the database structure, included a recalculation and realignment of categories to eliminate redundancies. In addition, the table previously published with the text on complaints against judges (Table 10: Judicial Complaints, Commenced, Terminated, and Pending) has been eliminated, as all relevant data now appear in Table S-22.

The number of complaints filed in 2021 was 1,283, a decrease of 45 complaints (down 3 percent) from the number filed in 2020. The number of complainants totaled 1,305, as some of the complaints involved more than one complainant. Litigants accounted for 60 percent of complainants, and prison inmates accounted for 35 percent. Fifty-nine percent of the complaints were made against district judges, 25 percent were against circuit judges, 14 percent were against magistrate judges, and 2 percent were against bankruptcy judges. The circuits in which the highest numbers of complaints originated were the Fourth Circuit (180 complaints), Fifth Circuit (162 complaints), Eleventh Circuit (161 complaints), and Ninth Circuit (140 complaints). A complaint may have multiple allegations. The allegations made most frequently were related to merits of decision or ruling (989); other misconduct (462); discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, or other (108); delayed decision (91); and hostility toward litigant, lawyer, judicial employee, or other (69).

Chief judges dismissed 1,410 complaints in whole or in part. This total includes complaints that later were terminated with finality by circuit judicial council orders on petitions for review, as well as complaints for which additional review was still possible. A complaint may be dismissed for multiple reasons. Frequently cited reasons for dismissal included the following: the complaint was directly related to the merits of decisions (1,046), the allegations lacked sufficient evidence (951), and the allegations were frivolous (338).

Of the complaints filed in 2021 or pending from previous years, 1,442 were terminated by final action. Chief judges terminated 954 complaints with no further review. Circuit judicial councils terminated 478 complaints, including 2 terminated after reports by special committees were issued. Eight complaints were terminated because the complainants withdrew them after filing the initial complaints. Pending complaints decreased by 101 (down 15 percent) to 560.

For information on complaints filed against judges, see Table S-22.