Press Release  Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct publishes Annual Report covering 2022 activities

Boston, MA — ​​​​​​On June 9, 2023, the Commission on Judicial Conduct’s Executive Director, Howard V. Neff, III, published the Commission’s 2022 Annual Report, covering its activities from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022. 

The Commission reports that 757 complaints were filed with the Commission in 2022, and out of those complaints, sixty-one were docketed for investigation or Commission Screening.  For a complaint to be docketed for investigation or Commission Screening, it must allege specific facts that, if true, would constitute judicial misconduct or disability. 

For complaints docketed for Commission Screening, including stale complaints and anonymous complaints, the Commission must determine whether the complaint meets the necessary threshold to be investigated.  In 2022, the Commission dismissed six complaints after Commission Screening and sixty-one complaints after investigation (including nine complaints dismissed with an expression of concern to the judge).

Of the complaints received in 2022, 535 were submitted through the Commission’s online complaint form, which first became available on July 22, 2015.

The Commission considered a total of 116 complaints in 2022, filed both in 2022 and prior years, and disposed of nine-nine of them in 2022.  Seventeen complaints remained pending at the end of 2022, including fourteen investigations, one Informal Adjustment, and two Rule 13 Submissions in progress.

Of the ninety-nine complaints disposed of in 2022, sixty-seven of them were dismissed.  An additional thirty-two complaints were disposed of by the Supreme Judicial Court in 2022.    

The Commission’s statute and rules, and a copy of the 2022 Annual Report are available on the Commission’s website at: www.mass.gov/cjc.

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