No Judicial Ethics in Arizona...
...When it Comes to Religion
On October 7, 2024, Secular Communities for Arizona filed a complaint with the Arizona Supreme Court regarding a violation of the separation of church and state. The Red Mass, held at St. Mary’s Basilica and sponsored by The St. Thomas Moore Society, a religious organization, is held to coincide with the opening of the legislature or a term of court. In this case it was January 23, 2024, so it was for the opening of the legislature — clearly a political event.
Photos of the event show Supreme Court justices Montgomery and King along with superior court judges Ryan and Kiley taking part on stage including reading scripture and praying in their judicial robes.
Many people complained and the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee issued an opinion that wearing a judicial robe to a religious ceremony was unethical, similar to an earlier decision that wearing a rainbow pin on a robe did the same. (Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee (JEAC) opinion 24-02 “Wearing a Robe at the Red Mass”)
After pressure from Justice Bolick, formerly of the Goldwater Institute, the Supreme Court withdrew that judicial ethics opinion, an action that had never before occurred. So as it stands today, judges may not use their robes to make a statement against discrimination (e.g. to support lesbians and gays by wearing a rainbow flag pin) but they make use their robes to make a statement in favor of discrimination (by the Catholic Church against LGBTQ+ and women).
This is a violation of the First Amendment, the Rule of Law, precedent, and sound judicial reasoning.
The complaint that we filed outlined not just the appearance of impropriety but actual impropriety, the need for judicial independence, and the difference between private beliefs and statements versus official and political statements. In our argument, we pointed out that judges are held to higher standards of integrity and ethical conduct than attorneys or other persons not invested with the public trust. We also noted that judges do not have the freedom of the ordinary individual, but are bound to submerge personal feelings in the impartial administration of the law.
In our argument, we outlined the historical elimination of religion in our constitution and by our founders. Even the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against judges being formally involved in religion while robed. We asked to reinstate the earlier opinion that said activity was not allowed and discipline the judges who wrongfully engaged in religious favoritism while wearing their judicial robes.
On May 8, 2025 we received copies of the disposition of the four complaints from the State of Arizona Commission on Judicial Complaint. All were rejected. The reason given was that the standard of evidence for finding a violation is “clear and convincing.” The commission noted that they had issued an opinion that it was improper but that the Supreme Court withdrew that opinion so that today, there is no ethics guidance on this issue. Therefore, it was not clear and convincing and thus fails.
However, that is not accurate: there is guidance. The guidance comes not from the AZ Commission on Judicial Conduct or the Arizona supreme court, but from many other courts (including the U.S. Supreme Court) and bars associations across the U.S. and from our historical documents and founders’ statements. All were ignored.
No doubt the Commission knew that the Supreme Court would just overturn the discipline like they had overturned the ethics guidance so that current justices are free to engage in religious pandering.
If you would like to tell the Supreme Court what you think about this, here are their emails:
Chief Justice Ann Timmer: atimmer@courts.az.gov
Vice Chief Justice John R. Lopez IV: jlopeziv@courts.az.gov
Justice Clint Bolick: cbolick@courts.az.gov
Justice James P. Beene: jbeene@courts.az.gov
Justice William G. Montgomery: wmontgomery@courts.az.gov
Justice Kathryn H. King: kking@courts.az.gov
Brutinel has since resigned and Justice Maria Elena Cruz was not present for any of this.
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