Judicial Tenure Act

Judicial Tenure Act - Establishes a 12-member Judicial Conduct and Disability Commission, consisting of one member from each judicial circuit and one member selected collectively by the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, Court of Claims, and the Customs Court, to receive complaints filed by any person with respect to the condition or conduct of a judge, or the conduct of a Justice, of the United States appointed to hold office during good behavior. Requires each circuit, the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, Court of Claims, and the Customs Court to have a committee of judges to receive and review complaints against judges of their circuits or courts transmitted from the Commission. Directs the Commission to dismiss any complaint which it finds to be improperly verified or subscribed, frivolous, or lacking jurisdiction, and to investigate any complaints against a Supreme Court Justice which is not so dismissed. Directs the appropriate committee of judges, upon receipt of a complaint from the Commission, to determine the existence of any grounds specified: (1) in existing law for the involuntary retirement of a judge, or (2) in this Act for the removal or censure of a judge. Authorizes the committee to recommend to the Commission: (1) dismissal of the complaint; (2) further investigation by the Commission; or (3) that there be a reasonable period of time for the committee to address the matter raised in the complaint. Establishes the Court on Judicial Conduct and Disability, consisting of a presiding officer elected annually by the Judicial Conference of the United States and six members selected by such officer, as a court of record with all appropriate judicial powers incident or necessary to hear matters concerning the involuntary retirement, removal, or censure of a judge or Justice. Directs the Commission to recommend to the Court that a hearing be held upon a finding of sufficient cause to believe that the condition or conduct of the judges, or the conduct of the Justice, may be inconsistent with the good behavior standard. Authorizes the Court to decide the merits of a written complaint against a judge or Justice upon receipt of a report by the Commission. Gives the Commission the burden of proving such report before the Court by clear and convincing evidence. Specifies due process protections for the judge or Justice who is the subject of such hearing. Authorizes the Court to suspend without hearing a judge who has pleaded guilty, nolo contendere, or has been found guilty of a felony or any crime involving moral turpitude under Federal or State law. Conditions such suspension in all other cases on the holding of a hearing as provided by this Act. Directs the Court, in each case involving a judge brought before it, to order involuntary retirement, removal from office, censure, or dismissal of the case. Allows the judge affected to petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court within ten days after notification of such order. Directs the Court, in each case involving a Justice brought before it, to recommend to the House of Representatives the impeachment or censure of the Justice, or to order dismissal of the case. Provides that removal or censure may be ordered by the Court upon a finding that the conduct of the judge has been inconsistent with the good behavior standard required by article III, section 1 of the Constitution. Specifies that such conduct includes, but is not limited to: (1) willful misconduct in office; (2) willful and persistent failure to perform duties of the office; (3) habitual intemperance; and (4) other conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and which brings the judicial office into disrepute.

Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on January 31, 1979. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.

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