Opinion ID: 7347074
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Levels of Judicial Misconduct

Text: A violation of the California Code of Judicial Ethics constitutes one of three levels of judicial misconduct: willful misconduct, prejudicial misconduct, or improper action. (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 18, subd. (d).)
Willful misconduct is (1) unjudicial conduct that is (2) committed in bad faith (3) by a judge acting in his judicial capacity. (Broadman, supra, 18 Cal.4th at p. 1091.) Whether a judge’s conduct is unjudicial is measured with reference to the canons. (Dodds, supra, 12 Cal.4th at p. 172.) A judge acts in bad faith “only by (1) performing a judicial act for a corrupt purpose (which is any purpose other than the faithful discharge of judicial duties), or (2) performing a judicial act with knowledge that the act is beyond the judge’s lawful judicial power, or (3) performing a judicial act that exceeds the judge’s lawful power with a conscious disregard for the limits of the judge’s authority.” (Broadman, supra, 18 Cal.4th at p. 1092.) It is not disputed that Judge Clarke was acting in his judicial capacity.
The second most serious level of misconduct is prejudicial misconduct, “conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute.” (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 18, subd. (d).) Prejudicial misconduct while acting in a judicial capacity does not require bad faith; rather, it is “conduct which a judge undertakes in good faith but which nevertheless would appear to an objective observer to be not only unjudicial conduct but conduct prejudicial to public esteem for the judicial office.” (Geiler, supra, 10 Cal.3d at p. 284.)
Improper action occurs when the judge’s conduct violates the canons, but the circumstances do not rise to the level of prejudicial misconduct and do not bring the judiciary into disrepute. (Inquiry Concerning Saucedo (2015) 62 Cal.4th CJP Supp. 1, 82; Inquiry Concerning Ross (2005) 49 Cal.4th CJP Supp. 79, 89 (Ross), citing Adams, supra, 10 Cal.4th at p. 899.)