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Outspoken judge faces formal charges Tuesday, Apr 24, 2007 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state panel that disciplines judges formally charged Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Wendell Griffen on Monday with violating the code of judicial conduct by making public comments about the Bush administration, the Iraq war and other topics. The Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission voted 5-3 at a March 16 probable cause hearing to bring formal charges against Griffen and conduct a full disciplinary hearing. Griffen, whose outspokenness has put him at odds with the commission before, has 20 days to respond in writing to the charges. A hearing will be scheduled after Griffen responds, said Jim Badami, executive director of the commission. The judge said Monday he would file a response with the commission within the next couple of days but would refrain from commenting until then. The commission could decide to dismiss the charges, issue a censure or reprimand or recommend that the state Supreme Court suspend Griffen or remove him from office. The commission charged Griffen with "conduct that is prejudiced to the administration of justice" and willful violation of the judicial code. In support of the charges, the commission cited the following incidents: -Griffen was reported to have criticized Bush's nomination of John Roberts for chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in a Sept. 8, 2005, speech at the National Baptist Convention USA in Atlanta. He is a former pastor and official of the convention. -He was reported to have criticized the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina, Vice President Dick Cheney, the "Christian right," Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the late President Ronald Reagan in a Sept. 20, 2005, speech to the Arkansas Chapter of the NAACP. -He was reported to expressed "wholehearted support" for a minimum wage increase at a Jan. 19, 2006, news conference on the steps of Christ Episcopal Church in Little Rock. -He was reported to have spoken out against the Iraq war and people who speak negatively of immigrants and homosexuals in an Oct. 19, 2006, speech at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville. -He authored an opinion piece criticizing of some of the Bush administration's policies that was published Oct. 26, 2006, in the Arkansas Times weekly newspaper. Griffen said at the probable cause hearing last month that none of the issues on which he commented was pending in his court. Although the judicial code does prohibit judges from publicly endorsing or opposing a candidate for public office, Griffen said his comments about Roberts did not violate the code because Roberts was a presidential nominee for a federal seat, not a political candidate in Arkansas. Griffen also said most of the commission's allegations were based on hearsay and argued that the commission's interpretation of the code violated his First Amendment right of free speech. Commission lawyer Jay Wills said at the hearing that some of the issues Griffen commented on could conceivably come before him in a future court case, at which time his impartiality could reasonably be called into question. In 2002, the commission admonished Griffen for publicly criticizing the University of Arkansas, his alma mater, for slow progress in hiring and promoting minorities. Griffen is black. Griffen appealed to the state Supreme Court, which overturned the commission's ruling on grounds the canon it used was too vague and infringed on free speech. The canon eventually was more narrowly written. In 2004, the commission decided against pursuing charges against Griffen for, among other things, advocating parole for a state prison inmate. Griffen argued at the time he did so as the prisoner's pastor, not as a judge. |
