Judicial Misconduct - Judges
Facts
In the state of California, complaints against judges go to the California Supreme Court.
Complaints against Commissioners (no magistrates in CA) and referees initially go to the presiding judge of the Superior Court. When the presiding judge refuses to take action, as is the normal case, the complaint goes the same route as for Superior Court Judges.
Real world
Have just started to stress test this process, it is in the works and will be reported here regarding one Commissioner complaint and one Superior Court Judge complaint.
03May01 update - The above complaint against Commissioner Daniel Ornelas was addressed by Judge Peterson, the Presiding Judge of the San Diego Superior court. Judge Peterson completely sidestepped the tough issues: Commissioner citing a CA Code that was not even remotely related to the case, the Sheriff/DA tampering with the Commissioner prior to the trial to insure the defendant in this Small Claims action did not even need to show up in court because she knew what the decision would be in advance, why the court refused to issue orders to compel people receiving subpoenas to honor them. In this Small Claims Court action, the decision was made on a similar argument of "Depends on what the meaning of 'Is' is" where Judge Peterson agreed with Commissioner Ornelas that the term "Rent/storage" should be interpreted as "Storage". A continuing story that reveals more and more the ties between police/DA/court and against the average citizen.
11May01 update - An official complaint was sent to the California Commission on Judicial Performance, requesting investigation into the actions of Commissioner Ornelas and Judge Peterson.
late update 26mar02 - As expected, the California Commission on Judicial Performance determined that the above actions (thought here to be improper, unethical and illegal) are normal and proper conduct for a commissioner or judge of the Superior Court. Judges stick up for judges no matter what, pretty sad. I guess we must coin another phrase here: The Black Wall of Silence Yea, that will work.
If you feel you have a genuine complaint regarding misconduct on the part of a judge, go to judicial information