[ back ]
Can an Elected Assistant Judge be Disciplined by the Supreme Cou
William Boardman was first elected an Assistant Judge of Windsor County in 1991. He was reelected in 2006. Assistant Judges (sometimes referred to as “Side Judges” because they sit on either side of the law Judge) have two functions. One is to care for the County property, set a budget, and establish a property tax rate to support county functions. The other is to assist the law Judge in determining the facts of a dispute. The office was created in the Vermont Constitution so that Vermont’s land titles contested by Yorkers or New Hampshires would be determined by the “common sense” of elected lay people rather than the niceties of the law judges appointed by distant authority – that is in some respects they were above the law.
Boardman was also on the board of Emerge, a non-profit organization dedicated to implementing supervised parent-child contact in high conflict divorces. Boardman used his dual status to have the County sell a building to Emerge for $72,000 in spite of a bid by the Town of Hartford to pay $160,000.
A complaint was filed with the Judicial Conduct Board asserting Boardman had breached judicial ethics, by failing to act in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary. The Board found him guilty: suspended him from both administrative and judicial duties for six months, and until he resigned from Emerge, required him to take a judicial ethics course, and ordered him not to participate in any financial dealings involving the county and any organization he worked for. He appealed.
Boardman argued the Supreme Court could punish him for judicial duties but not for administrative failures. The Vermont constitution, he said, left administrative discipline of elected officials to the representatives of the “people’s will,” that is to the Legislature via impeachment, not the Courts. Moreover, he was benefiting the County by providing a needed service which he had the authority to do.
The Supreme Court quickly concluded Boardman had a conflict of interest in the Emerge deal, saying a person cannot represent both sides of a transaction. Doing so violated the high standards of conduct and integrity required of judges to avoid any action in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned. The Court also pointed out that Judges must not be influenced by private loyalties, regardless of motive.
These principles, the Court ruled, applied to his administrative duties as well as judicial ones. The Court held it had the right, concurrently with the Legislature, to discipline elected judges, in order to maintain public confidence in the judiciary. The Court also found the sanctions imposed by the Board were inadequate. It ordered Boardman not to sit on any cases in which Emerge had, or might, be involved in giving services.
The case reminds one of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandies’ observations that “Power must always feel the check of power.” In Re Assistant Jud
[ back ]
