Complaints against NY judges hit all-time high last year

Robert Tembeckjian, the head of the Commission on Judicial Conduct, which received a record number of complaints against judges in 2024. Screenshot via NYS Senate/File

By Jacob Kaye

Complaints made against New York judges reached a record high in 2024, according to the commission charged with investigating judicial conduct.

Over 3,350 complaints were made against local and state judges last year, accounting for a 12 percent increase when compared to the previous year, according to the recently released annual report from the Commission on Judicial Conduct.

The boost in the number of complaints was not a surprise. Complaints made to the commission, which was first created in the 1970s, have been on the rise over the past half decade. A record number of complaints were filed in both 2023 and 2022.

But last year’s increase was substantial. The number of complaints filed in 2024 was up 37 percent when compared to the five-year average of complaints made to the commission.

However, while the commission fielded more complaints than it ever has before, the number of times those complaints turned into investigations decreased when compared to previous years.

In 2024, around 4.75 percent of the complaints made against judges resulted in investigations.

However, in both 2023 and 2022, the commission launched investigations into nearly 7 percent of all complaints made.

In fact, the percentage of complaints that resulted in full-on investigations was the lowest it has been in at least the past decade in 2024.

Of the approximately 360 investigations launched by the commission last year, 11 resulted in the public discipling of a judge – three judges were removed from office, three were censured and five were admonished. An additional 13 judges resigned after the commission issued their findings and another seven judges resigned while the complaints against them were pending.

Also, 23 judges were issued confidential cautionary letters.

Around 190 investigations launched by the commission in 2024 were pending at the end of the year.

The number of public dispositions likely would have been higher had it not been for what lawmakers and the commission’s leader say is a loophole in the commission’s rules – investigations into judges must be closed 120 days after a judge retires.

In total, 13 judges had complaints closed against them as a result of their retirement.

For the past several years, lawmakers in Albany have been attempting to pass legislation that would allow an investigation to go until its conclusion, even if a judge were to retire.

“It is not and should not be easy to reprimand or remove a constitutional officer of government,” said Commission Administrator Robert Tembeckjian. “When warranted, however, it is essential to the integrity of public institutions that it be done.”

“The Judicial Conduct Commission strives to promote confidence in the courts, among the judiciary as well as the public, by disciplining those judges who have engaged in misconduct, while exonerating those who have been wrongly accused,” he added.

Among those removed by the commission last year was Erin Gall, a justice of the Supreme Court in Oneida County.

In July 2022, Gall was at a high school graduation party with her family at a friend’s home. Later in the evening, a group of uninvited guests arrived at the party. That’s when a fight broke out.

Gall’s 18-year-old son and husband were allegedly at the center of the dispute, escalating the argument.

A physical fight began when four Black teenagers arrived at the party, having received a text message with the address.

When police arrived at the scene, Gall improperly invoked her judicial office over a dozen times, at one point telling the teens, “Get off the property. And that's from Judge Gall. I’m a f–ing judge.”

Gall also threatened to shoot the teens and told police that the kids did not look “that smart” and were “not going to business school, that’s for sure.”

The commission also removed Thomas Rathbun Jr. from his position as a justice in Salisbury Town Court in Herkimer County.

The commission found that Rathbun posted a number of inappropriate political messages online.

Rathbun, who kept a Confederate flag on his desk in the courthouse, posted a number of far-right memes, including one that read, “‘I’m proud to be white’ I bet no one passes this on because they are scared of be (sic) called a racist.”

The Commission on Judicial Conduct was created in 1978 and has publicly disciplined over 900 judges, removed 300 judges from office and issued over 1,900 cautionary letters to judges since its founding.

There are 10 members currently serving on the commission. Of the commission’s members, each of whom serve four-year terms, four are appointed by the governor, three by the chief judge and one each by the speaker of the Assembly, the minority leader of the Assembly, the Senate majority leader and the Senate minority leader.

The commission fields complaints from litigants, attorneys, judges and others who claim that a member of the judiciary violated the law or a state rule on judicial ethics or conduct.

The commission then looks into the complaint and decides whether or not to pursue an investigation. If an investigation is launched, the commission can close the matter by dismissing the complaint or issuing some form of discipline against the judge, including admonishing the judge publicly, censuring them, removing them from office or retiring a judge for disability if that disability is preventing the proper performance of their judicial duties.

The commission can also enter into an agreement with a judge, allowing them to retire and never return to office.