§354 Action by judicial council

Summary

When a judicial council gets a report under section 353(c), it can look into the matter more, throw out the complaint, or, if it does not dismiss it, must take steps to keep the courts in the circuit running effectively and quickly. Those steps can include temporarily stopping new case assignments to the judge, rebuking the judge privately or publicly, certifying a lifetime judge’s disability under section 372(b), or asking a lifetime judge to retire voluntarily without meeting the service rules in section 371. For magistrate judges, the council can tell the district’s chief judge to take action. The council cannot remove a lifetime judge; any removal of a magistrate or bankruptcy judge must follow sections 631 or 152. The council must give immediate written notice to the complainant and the judge about what it did. The council may also send a complaint, the record, and its recommendations to the Judicial Conference under section 351. If the council thinks a lifetime judge may have done something that could be grounds for impeachment under Article II, or the matter cannot be resolved by the council, it may act under this rule and, unless doing so would harm the interests of justice, must immediately notify the complainant and the judge in writing.