Comm. R. IV Receipt of Complaints; Screened Out Complaints.

All complaints should be directed to the Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, who is the Judicial Administrator of the State of Louisiana, at 400 Royal Street, Suite 1213, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130-8145 or to Special Counsel, who is the legal counsel whose duties are described in JCL Rule XI B. Any member of the Commission, however, may receive a written complaint or, upon receipt of information regarding potential misconduct from another person or source, bring any matter to the attention of the Commission on his or her own motion without being listed as the complainant. The Chief Executive Officer and Special Counsel, upon receipt of information regarding potential misconduct from another person or source, may also bring any matter to the attention of the Commission with the Chair’s authorization without being listed as the complainant. In addition, Commission staff or any member of the Commission may bring a news report to the attention of the Chief Executive Officer or Special Counsel without being listed as the complainant, in which case the news report will be treated as any other news report. However, if a member of the Commission or Commission staff has personal knowledge of potential ethical misconduct, he or she should submit a complaint in accordance with JCL Rule III and shall be automatically recused from the matter in accordance with JCL Rule XII A.

The Chief Executive Officer may (1) direct such complaints to Special Counsel, for further screening and preliminary investigation, or (2) in his or her discretion, bring such complaints directly to the attention of the Chair for other action, as the circumstances may require. Special Counsel shall maintain a docket of all complaints and shall provide (a) to the Commission, upon the completion of each reporting stage of the proceedings, a full written report as to pending open files; and (b) a full written and/or other report upon the specific request of the Chair and/or the Chief Executive Officer of the Commission.

Rule XXIII, Sec. 3 of the Rules of the Louisiana Supreme Court requires the Commission to commence a preliminary inquiry concerning complaints that are not obviously unfounded or frivolous, or conclusory or contradictory on their face, or disproved by the contents of or the attachments to the complaint, and that allege facts that, if true, could constitute judicial conduct in violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct or of 1974 La. Const. art. V, Sec. 25C. Complaints that are deemed obviously unfounded or frivolous, or conclusory or contradictory on their face, or disproved by the contents of or the attachments to the complaint, or which solely criticize a judge’s official decision making or claim judicial error, unless the legal error was egregious, made in bad faith, or was part of a pattern and practice of legal error, are screened out by Special Counsel. Screened out complaints are later confirmed by a member of the Commission. The reviewing member may bring any file that was screened out to the attention of the Commission, which can choose to reverse Special Counsel's decision to screen out the complaint and open a file. If the Chair declines to authorize a preliminary inquiry on an anonymous complaint, the anonymous complaint is treated as any other screened-out complaint. Similarly, if the Chief Executive Officer declines to authorize a preliminary inquiry of a news report, the news report is treated as any other screened-out complaint. If a file has been screened out and the Commission has not reversed the screen out decision, and a complainant objects, he or she may lodge a written appeal of the screen out decision, which shall be directed to the Chief Executive Officer or to Special Counsel. The request for appeal must state the basis for his or her disagreement with the screen out decision, and may provide further information to the Commission concerning the facts underlying the original complaint. The Commission will review the original complaint and the written request for appeal at a subsequent regularly scheduled meeting of the Commission. The decision made by the Commission concerning the appeal shall be final. Absent extraordinary circumstances, the Commission will not consider a request for appeal received more than ninety days after the date of the screen out letter. [Amended effective January 29, 2021, Amended effective February 25, 2022]