Judicial council will deal with public beefs about nomination hearing statements

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has selected the Judicial Council of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to deal with any current or pending complaints of judicial misconduct against new associate justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Earlier in the week, Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson of the D.C. Circuit Appeals Court where Kavanaugh used to hold court, said that members of the public had begun filing complaints with the circuit about statements he had made during his contentious confirmation hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

She pointed out that the complaints did not relate to any conduct of Kavanaugh's while a judge in that circuit, but simply sought investigations of those public statements as a Supreme Court nominee.

Roberts has now referred them to the 10th circuit Judicial Council to look into the complaints identified by the D.C. Circuit or any pending or new complaints.

Judicial Councils are composed of judges and lawyers that deal with court administrative issues. In this case it is the procedure, created by Congress, "that permits any person to file a complaint in the courts about the behavior of federal judges-but not about the decisions federal judges make in deciding cases."

The Tenth Circuit in 2009 approved added misconduct rules that became part of the national regime.