Filing complaints is not something Fix the Court does often, so when we do it, it’s usually for behavior that’s quite serious and unbecoming.

The “formal complaints” that follow are ones we filed with the chief judge of a circuit via the judiciary’s required Judicial Conduct and Disability Act form.

In all instances but one (Judge Murguia), what we’re calling “informal complaints” were letters sent via email to chief district judges, circuit judges or circuit executives asking for clarification on a judge’s behavior or noting that a formal complaint would follow if the behavior wasn’t fixed quickly. These are in chronological order by category:

Formal

1. D. South Carolina Judge Joe Dawson: filed on 2/16/21; rewrote his severance agreement; order filed 7/29/22

2. Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry Smith: filed on 2/3/22; withdrawn by FTC on 2/15/24 (was COVID-related)

3. N.D. Texas Judge Brantley Starr: filed on 8/15/23; under consideration

4. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Judge William Greenberg: filed on 2/5/24; dismissed on 3/13/24; Greenberg claimed he didn’t know of wife’s political donation

5. Third Circuit Judge Emil Bove: filed on 12/10/25; under consideration

6. E.D. Michigan Judge Thomas Ludington: filed on 2/24/26; under consideration

Informal

1. D. Kansas Judge Carlos Murguia: worked with House Judiciary Committee on research regarding his conduct in 2019-20; called for his impeachment on 10/3/19: resigned on 3/31/20

2. D. Colorado Judge William Martinez: sent letter to D. Colorado chief judge on 3/11/20; response on 5/6/20 noted Martinez had apologized and vowed not to make political donations

3. S.D. Texas Judge Lynn Hughes: sent letter to the Fifth Circuit on 2/16/21; took inactive senior status on 2/12/23

4. S.D. Iowa Judge William Pratt: sent letter to the Eighth Circuit on 2/16/21; apologized on 4/16/21