'I should not have said that. Are there cameras in here?': What judges said in 2020 that got them in trouble.

Byline: Michaela Paukner, mpaukner@wislawjournal.com

From calling a defendant an addict to making sexist remarks about a clerk, U.S. judges made and were punished for some outrageous comments in 2020.

The Judicial Conduct Reporter from the National Center for State Courts Center for Judicial Ethics reviews judicial discipline and removal cases each year. The report said there were approximately 127 public state judicial discipline proceedings in 2020. Approximately one-third of sanctions were entered pursuant to the judge's agreement.

Eleven judges were removed from office in 2020, and five former judges were barred from serving in office again. Thirteen judges or former judges resigned or retired in lieu of discipline.

The conduct reporter cited one judicial discipline case from Wisconsin. Kenneth Gorski, a part-time Wood County Circuit Court commissioner, was reprimanded in January 2020 for failing to recuse himself from several cases in which a close friend was representing the other party and related misconduct, including his comments to a pro se litigant.

"Stop, now, just stop with that! Jesus .... Come on. That's getting old, that's getting really old;" and "Why can't you just be quiet when other people are talking?"Gorski said to the litigant.

Here are some of the other questionable comments and actions that got judges across the country in trouble in 2020:

Comments to or about litigants:

"And when I say communication, I don't mean 'and den da b**ch done dis, and den da b**ch done dat.'" Judge affecting an Ebonics accent and dialect to a couple during a custody dispute. Tranquilli (Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline 2020)(ordering that a former's judge pledge not to serve be irrevocable and that pay that had been withheld during his interim suspension be permanently withheld).

"I'm going to throw you out and put you in handcuffs in about 30 seconds, all right? So you can either walk out or get thrown out if I have to look at another outrageous expression from you. Clear? Because if I have to tell you again, I'm just going to ask the officer to put you in handcuffs,

and then you'llyou'll experience the Sullivan County Jail." Judge in a custody and visitation matter to a party's mother sitting in the back of the courtroom. McGuire (New York Commission 2020) (removal for this and other misconduct).

"You know, sounds like she was using meth and she's a meth head." Judge referring to the victim in a domestic violence case. Bennett...