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Ethics Enforcement:
Commission on Judicial Discipline

The Colorado constitution created a commission on judicial discipline and made it responsible for investigating allegations that a judge violated ethics rules.
 
The commission investigates allegations and prosecutes these charges. 

Meeting

Membership

Commission members are drawn from judges, lawyers, and non-lawyers selected by the governor and the supreme court.

Recommendations

The commission makes recommendations about discipline to the Supreme Court.

 

The Supreme Court makes the final decision on whether and how to discipline a judge.

Business congress
Fingerprint Access

Secrecy

Discipline Commission proceedings are secret.

 

If a judge is found to have violated the ethics rules, their discipline can be public or private. If private, the violation remains a secret.

 

Only if the Supreme Court approves public discipline will it be known to voters.

How effective is the discipline process?

"For 28 continuous years, there was no public judicial discipline in Colorado."

The Judicial Integrity Project commentary

Unbalanced Scales of Justice

2019-2023: The Discipline Commission issued 3 times as many sanctions as in all of the prior half-century.

SMART Hearing Testimony, Discipline Commission, 1/18/23

Government Building Columns

​For more information about
the process,
visit the Discipline Commission's website

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