LAS VEGAS — The Nevada Supreme Court has asked three Las Vegas judges to respond to reports that they have engaged in conflicts of interest, favoritism and other questionable practices.
Based on the responses of those senior judges and a review of the allegations, first detailed in the Los Angeles Times, the state Supreme Court will decide whether to take action, Chief Justice Robert E. Rose said.
In an interview, Rose also called for beefing up the state agency responsible for investigating judges, and for making it easier to remove senior judges from cases.
The Times articles, published this month, detailed what appeared to be widespread conflicts of interest, favoritism and violations of judicial canons by Las Vegas judges.
The reports focused on eight current or former district court judges and a sitting federal judge. The Supreme Court's inquiry is the first known step toward investigating the allegations.
News media and political commentators in Las Vegas have condemned the behavior described in the reports, and numerous Nevada lawyers praised the disclosures as a step toward reform.
At least two efforts are underway to change state laws governing the way Nevada's judges are chosen and to restrict campaign fundraising by judges. Similar efforts in previous years have been rebuffed by voters or the Legislature.
Beyond the Supreme Court's inquiry, officials charged with investigating possible judicial wrongdoing either have not responded to the reports or have spoken out in defense of the state's judges. Some have said The Times articles were unfair.
The Supreme Court said it was limiting its inquiry to the three senior judges because the high court appointed and directly oversaw them.
The job of investigating district court judges would fall to the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline. That group's executive director, David F. Sarnowski, said he was prohibited by law from disclosing if a complaint had been lodged against a judge or if an investigation was underway.
If a complaint were to result in a hearing, "even then the material is not publicly accessible," Sarnowski said.
Similarly, the chief judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco would decide whether to investigate any complaint against U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan of Las Vegas, another jurist cited in The Times articles. That process is also confidential.
