How to file a complaint about a judge

Where complaints go

The Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct (CJC) is the independent state agency that investigates allegations of judicial misconduct or disability. Complaints are filed in writing. The CJC's proceedings are confidential unless formal charges are filed.

What the CJC can and cannot do

This is where almost every complaint dies. The CJC addresses a judge's conduct — bias expressed on the record, ex parte communication, undisclosed conflicts, abusive treatment, failure to act. It does not review the merits of a ruling. It cannot change your custody order, reopen your case, or remove a judge from it.

If your real complaint is that the judge got it wrong, your remedies are a motion for reconsideration, a motion to recuse, or an appeal — not the CJC.

What makes a complaint credible

Write it like an investigator has ten minutes and no context.

• Case name, docket number, division, and the exact dates and times.
• One conduct issue per paragraph, in chronological order.
• Quote the record. This is why you order the audio or transcript first.
• Attach the documents — orders, transcript pages, filings. Do not attach your whole case.
• No adjectives you cannot prove. Describe conduct, not character.

Related routes

An attorney's misconduct goes to the Board of Bar Overseers. A licensed evaluator's conduct goes to their licensing board. A clerk or court employee issue goes to the court administrator for that division. Sending a complaint to the wrong body costs months.

Tell us too

Patterns are what change systems. Individual complaints are confidential and easy to dismiss; twenty complaints describing the same behavior in the same courtroom are not. Share your story with Court Watch so the pattern gets documented even when the complaint does not stick.