Members
Judicial Inquiry Commission
The Alabama Supreme Court formulated, established, and, on December 15, 1975, adopted the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics "as a code for judges and a declaration of that which the people of
the State of Alabama have a right to expect of them." Preamble, Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics.
Alabama, like each of the 49 other states and the District of Columbia, has a judicial-conduct system that is the primary means by which ethical standards for and other conduct of judges are
regulated. These judicial-conduct systems were instituted to ensure the integrity, independence, and impartiality of judges and the judicial system by
- enforcing standards of judicial conduct on and off the bench;
- assisting the judiciary in maintaining the necessary balance between independence and accountability;
- providing an accessible forum for citizens' complaints against judges;
- creating a greater public awareness of what constitutes proper and improper judicial conduct; and
- protecting judges from false, unfounded, and inaccurate accusations.
- initiate or receive complaints filed by any aggrieved person concerning any alleged violation by a judge of the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics, misconduct in judicial office, failure to perform judicial duties, or inability to perform judicial duties because of a physical or mental disability;
- conduct confidential investigations of allegations asserted in complaints filed with it;
- file charges in the Court of the Judiciary upon the finding by a majority of the Judicial Inquiry Commission that a reasonable basis exists to charge an Alabama judge with a violation of the Canons of Judicial Ethics, misconduct in office, failure to perform judicial duties, or inability to perform judicial duties because of a physical or mental disability; and
- prosecute charges the Commission files in the Court of the Judiciary (which, by rule of the Court of the Judiciary, the Commission is required to prove by clear and convincing evidence) and defend any appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court from the decision of the Court of Judiciary.
The Commission does not act as an appellate court. It cannot reverse, vacate, or otherwise modify any judicial decision. It does not review allegations of legal error or of abuse of judicial discretion, absent evidence of intentionally or consistently ignoring the law, evidence of abuse of judicial power, or other evidence of bad faith.
Article VI, § 156(b), of the Alabama Constitution, mandates that all proceedings of the Judicial Inquiry Commission shall be confidential except the fact that a complaint has been filed with the Court of the Judiciary. This mandate for confidentiality during an investigation exists in the judicial-conduct systems in all states. Alabama's confidentiality has been further defined by the Alabama Supreme Court in the Rules of Procedure of the Judicial Inquiry Commission. Although the Judicial Inquiry Commission and its staff maintain strict confidentiality, the Commission has no authority to limit the speech of complainants, witnesses, or any judge involved in any complaint or investigation.
Pursuant to Article VI, § 156(c), the Alabama Supreme Court has adopted rules governing the procedures of the Judicial Inquiry Commission. Some key provisions include the following: Any complaint filed must be verified by the complainant (Rule 6.A); upon opening a confidential investigation, the Commission must serve upon the judge the complaint and a notice setting forth the nature of the allegations being investigated (Rule 6.C); every six weeks, the Commission must serve upon the judge any materials collected during the investigation (Rule 6.D); the Commission must serve upon the judge any subpoena, which is issued by the Commission, prior to or simultaneously with service of the subpoena on the person or entity being subpoenaed (Rule 7.C); and the confidentiality exception set out above (Rule 5.A). In addition, Rule 18 gives the Commission discretion to render advisory opinions relating to judicial ethics to judges upon request. (The Commission has issued 930 advisory opinions as of October 5, 2016.)
Pursuant to Article VI, § 156(a), the Judicial Inquiry Commission consists of nine members: a judge of an intermediate appellate court, appointed by the Alabama Supreme Court; three persons who are not lawyers or judges and a district judge, appointed by the Governor and subject to confirmation by the Alabama Senate; two circuit judges, appointed by the Alabama Circuit Judges' Association; and two members of the Alabama State Bar, appointed by the Commissioners of the Alabama State Bar. Thus, seven commissioners are appointed by elected Alabama officials, with four of those commissioners also being confirmed by the Alabama Senate. The composition of the Judicial Inquiry Commission and the mechanism of appointment of its members by various public, elected officials and entities are very similar to all but a few of the 51 judicial-conduct systems in the United States.
The Judicial Inquiry Commission carried over, to fiscal year 2022, 17 complaints against Alabama judges, and it received 181 complaints during fiscal year 2022. Of those 198 complaints, 143 were dismissed, without investigation, on the Commission's findings each complaint did not present either a reasonable basis to charge, a claim within the Commission's jurisdiction, or an ethical violation, or a combination of any of those three. In addition, the Commission completed investigation of 17 complaints and subsequently dismissed those complaints. The Commission met with four judges about seven complaints against those judges, and the Commission subsequently dismissed four of those complaints in 2022. The Commission filed charges against two judges in the Court of the Judiciary. Complaints still under investigation or pending review were carried over to the next fiscal year.
From its inception 1973 until fiscal year 2023; the Commission filed 62 complaints in the Court of the Judiciary.
JIC Opinions are available on the Commission's website (Advisory Opinions - Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission)
