(The Center Square) — The number of complaints against New York’s state and local judges has been on the rise for several years, according to a new report by the state’s top judicial watchdog.
There were 3,363 complaints filed against state, county and local judges in 2025, according to a report released Monday by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. That’s the highest number of complaints recorded by the agency since it began compiling complaints nearly a half-century ago.
Of those complaints, 582 were referred to investigators for a preliminary review and 141 resulted in formal investigations, some of which are still ongoing, according to the report. The commission currently has about 150 active investigations.
At least 28 judges resigned in 2025 while complaints against them were pending before the commission, according to the report. The agency referred about 50 of the judicial misconduct cases to other agencies for additional investigation and possible prosecution.
Overall, the number of complaints against judges filed with the commission in the past 10 years has “substantially” increased, according to the report. Since 2016, the commission has averaged roughly 2,361 new complaints per year, 497 preliminary inquiries and 156 investigations.
New York’s Judiciary Law prohibits public disclosure by the commission of the charges, hearings or related matters, absent a waiver by the judge, until the case has been concluded and a determination of admonition, censure, removal or retirement has been rendered.
But the report provided details of several closed cases where judges were either censored, admonished or removed from bench for official misconduct. Several of the cases involved judges who were arrested for driving under the influence and other crimes. Others were accused of misconduct from the bench.
Among them was Jeffrey Zimmerman, a judge on the New York City Criminal Court, and acting Supreme Court justice in the Bronx, who was charged with misconduct by the commission “engaging in a pattern of “discourteous behavior” from the bench.
In one case, Zimmerman “repeatedly disparaged” the defendant’s attorney, appeared to “prejudge” the defendant’s guilt, and “spoke to the jury in private” about a case it had just heard. He resigned from the bench and agreed not to seek judicial office in the future, according to the report.
The 11-member commission reviews complaints against 3,350 judges in the state unified court system, about 59% are part-time town or village justices. Roughly 30% of all judges in the state’s court system are not lawyers.
“Public confidence in the independence, integrity, impartiality and high standards of the judiciary, and in an independent disciplinary system that helps keep judges accountable for their conduct, is essential to the rule of law,” Commission Chairman Joseph W. Belluck, wrote in a summary of the report.
He said the panel’s work “contributes to those ideals, to a heightened awareness of the appropriate standards of ethics incumbent on all judges, and to the fair and proper administration of justice.”
