Opinion ID: 877940
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Is a verified complaint a requisite for Judicial Standards Commission proceedings?

Text: The proceedings against Daniel J. Shea before the Judicial Standards Commission commenced upon the receipt by the Commission of an unverified letter from a retired district judge making a complaint about Daniel J. Shea. The chairman of the commission noted that the complaint of the retired district judge was not verified nor specific as to the instances of misconduct, but the chairman asked the members of the Commission if they wished to proceed with a preliminary investigation to determine if grounds of misconduct mentioned under Rule 9(a) were supported by the complaining letter. The minutes of the Commission for November 15, 1979, indicate that the investigating attorney recommended to the Commission, and the Commission adopted the position, that the allegations concerning parking tickets in Missoula and the allegations that references to other members of the court in dissenting opinions constituted conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute. The minutes reflect that the members unanimously agreed that further proceedings were required and that a hearing should be held regarding the two allegations of misconduct. It was agreed that the chairman would prepare a notice to Daniel J. Shea regarding a further hearing on these allegations. It was as a result of this meeting that the Notice of Partial Dismissal, Complaint and Notice of Institution of Further Proceedings was prepared on December 28, 1979. We have set out that particular instrument in full previously. The complaint is not verified by the Commission, but is signed by all of the Commission members. Rule 9(b) of the Commission provides that the Commission, without receiving a verified statement, may make a preliminary investigation on its own motion. The McKenzie dissent charge, though not contained in the original letter from the retired district judge, arose from a suggestion of the chairman of the Commission that the statements in the McKenzie opinion be considered as to whether they constituted judicial misconduct. Under Art. VII, § 11(2), 1972 Mont. Const., the Judicial Standards Commission is empowered to investigate complaints, and make rules implementing this section ... There is no mention in the constitutional provision for a verified complaint. The legislature, in creating the Commission, provided in section 3-1-1106, MCA, set forth previously, that the Commission or any citizen may, upon good cause shown, initiate an investigation of any judicial officer by filing a verified written complaint with the Commission. The Commission's position with respect to a verified complaint is stated in its Order of July 1, 1980, at pp. 6-7: It is the Commission's position that MCA 3-1-1106 usurps the constitutionally bestowed right of the Commission to adopt rules governing the manner by which the Commission may proceed and to that extent cannot be constitutionally upheld. The District Court considered this problem and upheld the Commission: The legislature is assigned the duty of creating the Commission and providing for the appointment of its prescribed membership. In addition it may have certain necessary implied powers and functions, such as funding and locating within the state's administrative functions. But the power to make rules to implement the section is reserved, with crystal clarity, to the Commission. These rules must certainly include procedural rules, and the manner in which proceedings are initiated are, with equal certainty, procedural rules. One of the rules the Commission has adopted under this authority is Rule 9b which permits it to undertake a preliminary investigation without receipt of a verified statement. There is no question raised here as to the propriety of the rule's promulgation. If this rule conflicts with Section 3-1-1106(1) the section must yield to the rule, the latter having constitutional status. The record shows that the parking ticket charge against Daniel J. Shea grew out of an unverified letter from a retired district judge. The charge filed against Daniel J. Shea concerning the language in the McKenzie dissent came through the initiative of the Commission itself. The Commission did not follow its own rule or the statutory requirement that the letter complaint of the retired district judge be verified. In its order of July 1, 1980, denying Daniel J. Shea's motions respecting the lack of verified complaint, the Commission stated: ... Usually, as in Justice Shea's case, the Commission does not receive a verified complaint. It is the experience of the Commission that when it requests a verified complaint, the complainant forgets it. The problem posed is whether the Commission can proceed with a preliminary investigation to determine if there is good cause for it to file a formal complaint. The Commission elected this procedure in Justice Shea's case, as allowed by Rule 9(b). The decision to file a formal complaint was an official act of the Commission as shown by minutes of the meeting had on October 17, 1979, and by the signature of all members of the Commission affixed to the complaint. There is no rule requiring verification. If after investigation the Commission finds good cause, is it prohibited from filing a complaint because either the original complaint was deficient, or the Commission's complaint was not verified? Order, July 1, 1980 at 7. (Emphasis added.) Apparently then the Commission is assuming unto itself the right to ignore legislatively enacted provisions governing its procedure, and even its own rule requiring a verified complaint, in its perception and under the assumption that it is now acting and will act for the public good. The question, however, is not one of motives but of constitutional authority, for which the best of motives is not a substitute. Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan (1935), 293 U.S. 388, 420, 55 S.Ct. 241, 248, 79 L.Ed. 446, 458. There is no question that the Commission can make legislative rules under its rulemaking authority, filling in the gaps and fleshing out the procedures for the enforcement of judicial discipline. When, however, it adopts interpretative regulations, it is faced with quite another problem, because then, as in this case, the matter becomes one of determination of constitutional power as between the legislature on the one hand and the Commission on the other. The difference is substantial: `Legislative' rules or regulations are accorded by the courts or by express provision of statute the force and effect of law immediately upon going into effect. In such instances the administrative agency is acting in a legislative capacity, supplementing the statute, filling in the details, or `making the law,' and usually acting pursuant to a specific delegation of legislative power. `Interpretative' regulations are those which purport to do no more than interpret the statute being administered, to say what it means. They constitute the administrators' construction of a statute. In such instances the administrative agency is merely anticipating what ultimately must be done by the courts; they are performing a judicial function rather than a legislative function, and interpretative regulations (in the absence of ratification by the legislature) have validity in judicial proceedings only to the extent that they correctly construe the statute and then, strictly speaking, it is the statute and not the regulation to which the individual must conform. 1 Am.Jur.2d Administrative Law, § 95, at 893. The legislature was required by Art. VII, § 11, to create a Judicial Standards Commission. When it did so, it placed within the power of the Judicial Standards Commission not only the constitutional grounds for censure, suspension or removal but added other stipulations. It provided that a judicial officer may not participate in any proceeding involving his own censure, suspension or removal, section 3-1-1108, MCA; it provided that a judicial officer is disqualified from acting, without loss of salary, while there is pending a charge against him of a felony or a formal proceeding before the Commission for his removal or retirement, section 3-1-1109, MCA; and it provided for the suspension of a judicial officer and his eventual removal if it is finally determined that he is guilty of a felony, section 3-1-1110, MCA. These additional provisions enacted by the legislature are founded on its power granted in Art. V, § 13(1), 1972 Mont.Const., (see infra for full text), which states that the legislature may enact [O]ther proceedings for removal from public office for cause... In the final analysis, there can be no inhibition of the legislative power, irrespective of the rulemaking authority granted to the Judicial Standards Commission, to make suitable provisions relating to the Judicial Standards Commission which do not conflict with the constitutionally granted powers of the Commission. The legislature has broad powers relating to removal of public officers under the 1972 Montana Constitution. While the Judicial Standards Commission has a defined constitutional sphere in which it can act, the legislature may move by impeachment or other proceedings against public officers, under Art. V, § 13. Public officers include judicial officers. Nothing in the 1972 Constitution prevents the legislature from providing that the Judicial Standards Commission shall proceed against judicial officers by verified complaint. The Commission itself is powerless to set that provision aside. The legislature has the constitutional power to broaden the grounds upon which judicial officers may be removed or disciplined. The Judicial Standards Commission does not enjoy that power.