Guide to Ethical Obligations & Filing a Complaint

Thank you for inquiring about judicial conduct and disability with the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline (the "Commission"). The Commission has been in existence since the mid-1970's and its authority is defined by the Nevada Constitution (Article 6, Section 21), the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS §1.425, et seq.) and by its own adopted Procedural Rules. The current versions of these requirements can be found in the laws of the State of Nevada, commonly called the Nevada Revised Statutes, available at local law or larger public libraries or the same information can be accessed on the Commission's web site found at http://judicial.nv.gov.

At the start of our explanation about what the Commission does, and how it can assist you, it is important to understand that the Commission's powers are limited by Nevada law and are solely those of a regulator of judicial conduct and disability. The Commission is not an appellate court and has no power to overturn a decision of a judicial officer. Rather, the task of reviewing and addressing questions of legal error is normally performed by Nevada's appellate courts.

Rather than focus on the correctness of a decision, the Commission focuses on a judicial officer's conduct or disability. If the Commission finds that a judicial officer failed to adhere to the Revised Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct (Part VI of the Nevada Supreme Court Rules) (the "Code"), as that Code is periodically amended by the Nevada Supreme Court, the Commission is granted the independent power to discipline or caution a judicial officer for failure to abide by the Code governing his or her conduct. In addition, if the Commission finds that a judicial officer can no longer carry out his or her judicial duties due to a significant disability, it may temporarily or permanently remove a judicial officer or impose conditions regarding the judicial officer's future duties.

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