Court Opinion

ID: 9883523
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 01:45:13.697114+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:24.473563
License: Public Domain

Justice Lake
dissenting.
My dissent does not reflect any doubt on my part that certain acts of the respondent, purportedly in the performance of his judicial duties, as shown in the evidence in the record before us, were reprehensible, prejudicial to the administration of justice and of such nature as to bring the judicial office into disrepute and thus merit the censure of this Court and of all right minded citizens. The basis of my dissent is the much more fundamental principles of law, declared in the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Constitution of this State and of the United States.
Since this is the first proceeding to reach this Court under G.S. Ch. 7A, Art. 30, by which the Judicial Standards Commission was created and without which it has no authority, and since such a proceeding is of significant interest to the public, the bench and the bar, I believe the constitutional deficiencies of the statute should be dealt with by this Court even though not specifically raised by the respondent. The attention of the General Assembly being so directed to these deficiencies, it can, if it deems proper, enact at its forthcoming session a new and valid statute to carry out the mandate laid upon it by Art. IV, § 17, of the Constitution of North Carolina, ratified at the general election of 1972.
For the present I pass over the interesting question of whether the General Assembly may lawfully enact legislation creating and empowering such a Commission, at a time when the Constitution does not authorize it, by making the effectiveness of its enactment contingent upon the ratification of a then pending constitutional amendment. See, Session Laws of 1971, Ch. 590.
Article I, § 19, of the Constitution of North Carolina declares :
“No person shall be * * * disseized of his * * * privileges * * * or in any manner deprived of his life, liberty *606or property, but by the law of the land. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws * * *
The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States declares:
“ * * * nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
It is my view that the statute by which that Commission was created, and which is its sole source of power or authority, violates these basic principles. For that reason, this Court cannot, and does not, derive therefrom authority to enter the present order.
It will be observed that this Court does not purport to enter this order as an exercise of its general supervisory power over proceedings of the other courts of this State, including that over which Judge Crutchfield was elected by the people of his district to preside. See: Constitution of North Carolina, Art. IV, § 12(1); Dantzic v. State, 279 N.C. 212, 219, 182 S.E. 2d 563. Consequently, this dissenting opinion does not relate to an order of censure entered in the exercise of that power. Obviously, it does not relate to a judgment entered by the Senate, sitting as the Court for the Trial of Impeachments. See, Constitution of North Carolina, Art. IV, § 4.
In the present proceeding, no court has heard any evidence or made any finding of fact. This Court has simply reviewed the record transmitted to it by an administrative agency, has concluded the evidence in the record supports findings made by that agency and has acted in accordance with its recommendation. The jurisdiction of this Court over the subject matter of this proceeding is derivative and can rise no higher than its source — the proceeding before the Judicial Standards Commission. The jurisdiction of a court over the subject matter is always a proper inquiry for that court, whether raised by the litigants or not.
The Act of 1971 creating the Judicial Standards Commission purports to establish a procedure, other than impeachment, whereby a judge may be censured or removed from his office. The Act provides, G.S. 7A-376, that a judge “removed for other than mental or physical incapacity receives no retirement com*607pensation, and is disqualified from holding further judicial office.” Thus, the Act purports to provide a means whereby a judge may be deprived of retirement benefits for which he has, while in office, made substantial payments to the State Retirement Fund, may be deprived of the office to which he has been elected by the people for a specified term of years, and may be denied the right, held by every other qualified voter of the State, to seek election to any judicial office so long as he lives.
The Constitution of North Carolina, Art. XI, § 1, declares:
“Punishments. The following punishments only shall be known to the laws of this State: Death, imprisonment, fines, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under this State.” (Emphasis added.)
While the majority opinion in this matter is technically correct in saying this is not a criminal proceeding, since it is a proceeding not brought or tried in any court of justice, it is neither technically nor substantially correct to say its purpose is not to punish the respondent for alleged wrongdoing. Removal from office and disqualification thereafter to hold office are expressly declared by the Constitution to be punishments. If it were not so, common sense would require the conclusion that to remove a judge from office, deny him the retirement compensation for which he has paid, and disqualify him for life to hold judicial office again is a far more serious punishment than a fine of fifty dollars for speeding or even imprisonment for thirty days.
In my view, a formal order of this Court, follows a publicized recommendation of an official State agency, censuring a judge for misconduct in office, is a severe punishment. To say it is not, because the purpose of the Court is to maintain the public’s confidence in its judicial system, is equivalent, in law and in fact, to saying execution for crime is not punishment therefor because the purpose is to improve the environment. In any event, nothing in this record indicates that the Judicial Standards Commission ever notified this respondent that the purpose of its proceeding was to censure him rather than remove him from office. A recommendation by it for removal was a distinct possibility until its actual recommendation was made at the end of the proceeding.
Even a judge charged with misconduct in office is entitled to a fair trial before a fact finding body which has not already *608determined his probable guilt to its own satisfaction. Even an accused judge is entitled to the basic constitutional protections afforded by Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses to one suspected of rape, murder, burglary, robbery or embezzlement.
As the Constitution of North Carolina, Art. I, § 85, states, “A frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty.” Two of these are expressed in the Due Process and the Equal Protection Clauses. The 1972 Amendment to the Constitution, Art. IV, § 17, authorizing the General Assembly to enact legislation providing for removal and censure of judges obviously contemplated that it would do so within the limitation of those clauses.
G.S. 7A-376 provides:
“Upon recommendation of the Commission, the Supreme Court may censure or remove any justice or judge for wilful misconduct in office, wilful and persistent failure to perform his duties, habitual intemperance, conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude, or conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute.”
Under this statute, this Court may act only upon a recommendation of the Judicial Standards Commission, an administrative agency. This statute, and the remaining sections comprising the Judicial Standards Commission Act, G.S. Ch. 7A, Art. 30, establish no standard or guide-line whatsoever by which to determine whether the Commission shall recommend, or this Court shall impose, the punishment of censure or the infinitely more severe punishment of removal, loss of retirement benefits and disqualification to hold further judicial office. The Commission, in its unbridled discretion, for unstated reasons, political, personal or otherwise in nature, can choose between the two on a case by case basis, recommending the extreme penalty of removal of one judge and the much milder censure of another judge though their conduct be identical, or though the judge to be censured be found to have accepted bribes and the judge to be removed be found to have done nothing worse than sign without authority (as Judge Crutchfield is said to have done) orders granting permission to operate a motor vehicle. Such statutory invitation to gross favoritism by an administrative agency in the choice of punishment to be imposed for wrongdoing is not consistent with the Equal Protection Clause. Com*609pare, Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed. 2d 346. To hold such a statute invalid it is not required that actual abuse of such unlimited discretion be shown.
G.S. 7A-377 is the only statutory provision relating to the procedure before the Judicial Standards Commission. It provides :
“ (a) Any citizen of the State may file a written complaint with the Commission concerning the qualifications or conduct of any justice or judge of the General Court of Justice, and thereupon the Commission shall make such investigation as it deems necessary. The Commission may also make an investigation on its own motion. The Commission is authorized to issue process to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence, to administer oaths, to punish for contempt, and to prescribe its own rules of procedure. No justice or judge shall be recommended for censure or removal unless he has been given a hearing affording due process of law. All papers filed with and proceedings before the Commission are confidential, unless the judge involved shall otherwise request. The recommendation of the Commission to the Supreme Court, and the record filed in support of the recommendations are not confidential. Testimony and other evidence presented to the Commission is privileged in any action for defamation. No other publication of such testimony or evidence is privileged, except that the record filed with the Supreme Court continues to be privileged. At least five members of the Commission must concur in any recommendation to censure or remove any justice or judge. A respondent who is recommended for censure or removal is entitled to a copy of the proposed record to be filed with the Supreme Court, and if he has objections to it, to have the record settled by the Commission. He is also entitled to present a brief and to argue his case, in person and through counsel, to the Supreme Court. A majority of the members of the Supreme Court voting must concur in any order of censure or removal. The Supreme Court may approve the recommendation, remand for further proceedings, or reject the recommendation. A justice of the Supreme Court or a member of the Commission who is a judge is disqualified from acting in any case, in which he is a respondent.
*610“(b) The Commission is authorized to employ an executive secretary to assist it in carrying out its duties. For specific cases, the Commission may also employ special counsel or call upon the Attorney General to furnish counsel. For specific cases, the Commission may also employ an investigator or call upon the Director of the State Bureau of Investigation to furnish an investigator. While performing duties for the Commission such executive secretary, special counsel, or investigator shall have authority throughout the State to serve subpoenas or other process issued by the Commission in the same manner and with the same effect as an officer authorized to serve process of the General Court of Justice.”
Obviously, this statute makes the Judicial Standards Commission the investigator, the accuser, the prosecutor, the jury to find the facts, and the determiner of the sentence to be recommended. If this be due process of law, it would be difficult to find a procedural violation of that basic constitutional right. Even one accused of the most vicious crime is not placed on trial before a petit jury drawn from the police department which investigated the report of the crime, the grand jury which indicted him and the staff of the prosecuting, attorney.
Nothing in the statute provides for putting in evidence the initial complaint filed with the Commission, or even disclosing to the accused judge the name of his accuser or the complaint filed. On the contrary, the statute provides the complaint shall be confidential, unless the accused judge, prior to seeing it, requests otherwise; that is, requests that it be made public. Likewise, nothing in the statute requires or contemplates putting in evidence, at the hearing before the Commission, the reports it receives from its investigators, or the calling of such investigators for cross-examination. Yet, the Commission has received these reports, which, necessarily, are largely hearsay and conclusions of the investigator based upon unspecified data, and, on the basis of these, has made its initial determination of the probable guilt of the respondent before he is even duly notified that a hearing will be conducted. Again, the statute does not provide for, or appear to contemplate, a public hearing. Such a Star Chamber proceeding is not consistent with due process of law.
Again, the statute delegates to this administrative body unlimited authority “to prescribe its own rules of procedure.” *611The General Assembly has prescribed at length and in detail the procedure by which the several courts of justice in this State are to hear the parties and determine the facts in both civil and criminal actions, but this administrative body is set free to sail on an uncharted sea, to write its own rules of procedure, and to amend them at will. This is “delegation run riot” and violates both Art. II, § 1, and Art. I, § 6, of the Constitution of North Carolina. It is no answer to say the statute provides the respondent judge must be “given a hearing affording due process of law” when the statute, itself, gives the Commission unbridled discretion to prescribe and amend its rules of procedure and confers upon it the combined roles of investigator, accuser, prosecutor and finder of fact.
The statute authorizes the Commission to recommend, and this Court, upon such recommendation, to impose the extreme penalty of removal from office, forfeiture of retirement benefits and disqualification, for life, to hold any judicial office, if, by such a proceeding, the Commission finds the judge has been guilty of “conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute.” This does not mean wilful misconduct, for that word “wilful,” specifically used to modify “misconduct in office,” is omitted in this specification. It does not mean misconduct in office, or criminal conduct in or out of office, or habitual intemperance on or off the bench, or neglect of official duties, for all of these things are specified by the statute as distinct grounds for censure or removal. What conduct, not falling within any of these other specified categories of behavior, constitutes “conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute?” The statute does not say. No judge can possibly determine, in advance of Commission action against him, what conduct by him, in or out of his courtroom, will be asserted by the Commission as ground for his censure or removal. Could it be supposed for a moment that, consistent with the Due Process Clause, a fine of fifty dollars or a sentence to imprisonment for twenty-four hours could be imposed for “conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office in disrepute?” Yet, this statute provides that this Commission can recommend and this Court thereupon can impose, ex post facto, removal from office upon this charge, and that is precisely the charge on which Judge Crutchfield is now censured. If ever there was a “vague and over broad” statutory statement of a ground for the imposition of punishment, it is this one — “con*612duct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute.” The Due Process Clause simply will not permit censure or removal of a judge upon such a charge. See: In Re Burrus, 275 N.C. 517, 531, 169 S.E. 2d 879; Surplus Store, Inc. v. Hunter, 257 N.C. 206, 125 S.E. 2d 764; State v. Hales, 256 N.C. 27, 32, 122 S.E. 2d 768; 16 Am. Jur. 2d, Constitutional Law, § 552; 16A C.J.S., Constitutional Law, § 580.