Ethics investigation into former chief judge closes – for now
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An ethics investigation into former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore has been temporarily closed as a result of her retirement, records shared with the Eagle show. AP file photo by Mike Groll
By Jacob Kaye
The ethics investigation into the former chief judge of New York’s court system has, at least for now, been closed, according to a letter sent to the court officer’s union head reviewed by the Eagle.
An ethics investigation into former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore allegedly started by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct last year has been temporarily closed as a result of the top judge’s retirement in August.
The investigation could be restarted should DiFiore return to the court system as a judge in the future.
“Inasmuch as Chief Judge DiFiore resigned from office on August 31, 2022, and Section 47 of the Judiciary Law strictly limits the Commission’s jurisdiction when a judge resigns, the matter against the former Chief Judge has been closed, subject to being resumed should she ever return to judicial office,” the letter from Robert Tembeckjian, the attorney for the commission, reads.
Though it was widely speculated that DiFiore’s abrupt resignation was tied to the investigation, the former chief judge has given no indication that the two were connected and court leadership has consistently denied the charge.
“I will step down as chief judge of the Court of Appeals and the state of New York and move on to the next chapter in life deeply proud of what we have been able to accomplish together, and forever grateful to each of you for your commitment to excellence,” DiFiore said in a July letter announcing her retirement, which came with three years left on her term.
Lucian Chalfen, the spokesperson for the Office of Court Administration, said that the pause and potential end to the investigation into Difiore is “just another affirmation that the personal and vitriolic harassment campaign by the former court officer and union president to besmirch the reputation of the former Chief Judge because of his perceived slights, failed yet again.”
The letter sent by the commission was addressed to Dennis Quirk, the president of the New York State Court Officers Association who filed a complaint against DiFiore in August 2021.
The complaint was the culmination of a long saga of agitation between DiFiore and Quirk that ran on for years.
Quirk and DiFiore frequently sparred during her time as chief judge, which began in 2016. The union president has often been a spirited critic of the former judge, particularly around her handling of the court system during the COVID-19 pandemic – he specifically opposed the court’s vaccination mandate, which court officers failed to comply with at a higher rate than other court staff.
The fighting led to Quirk’s suspension and eventual retirement as a court officer after he posted both of the chief judges’ addresses online to encourage his members to picket her homes over the court system’s vaccine mandate.
“She's the worst chief judge in the history of the state of New York,” Quirk told the Eagle following the news of DiFiore’s retirement. “She treated everybody – court staff, judges, everybody – like garbage.”
The union boss was the first to suggest that DiFiore’s retirement was tied to an ethics investigation.
In the summer of 2020, DiFiore accused Quirk of perpetuating racist and biased behavior among his court officers, according to reporting by the New York Post. The accusations of racism came prior to Secretary Jeh Johnson’s report on racism and bias in the court system – the report ultimately described a “culture of toxicity” among court officers statewide.
In response to the Post story, Quirk penned an email to DiFiore in which he denied the allegations of racism and threatened to post stories through the court system related to an alleged 2013 affair the married DiFiore had with a police officer.
“Your call to the NY Post that I am a racist is false and you know it,” Quirk wrote in the email. “You want to spread false rumors[,] let’s see [how] you like the online articles about your relationship with a police officer with ties to organized crime while you were married posted all over every court building in NYS.”
DiFiore filed a misconduct complaint against Quirk following the email.
After filing the complaint, DiFiore wrote a letter, known as an impact statement, to former Judge Phyllis Orlikoff Flug, who was charged with looking into the claim of misconduct against Quirk.
In the letter, DiFiore, in her capacity as the chief judge, asked that Flug “use every means at your disposal to address this incident and deter future misconduct by [Quirk] and other Unified Court System employees.”
“I implore you to use your authority wisely to uphold the values of our entire court system,” DiFiore wrote.
It was that letter that Quirk alleges violated the state’s ethics laws for judges, who are generally not allowed to use their position to influence official proceedings for personal reasons.
In his complaint to the Commission on Judicial Ethics, Quirk notes that he has had a number of “harsh relationships” with members of the court’s leadership.
“Nevertheless, no matter how aggressive the negotiations might have been or how much tempers may have flared – we were always able to put our differences in the past and continue our working relationship for the mutual benefit of our respective clients,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, I am extremely disturbed by the overall lack of professionalism and improprieties that Chief Judge Janet DiFiore has consistently engaged in.”
“In my over forty-seven years of professional interaction with the New York State Judiciary, I have never encountered the systemic culture of intimidation and influence peddling that Chief Judge Janet DiFiore has consistently engaged in,” he added.
The commission, which does not comment on investigations, did not expand on its investigation into DiFiore in its letter to Quirk, which was sent in October.
