Public Decisions Database
This database contains decisions on all public judicial disciplinary cases since the inception of the commission in 1960. Cases not involving public charges or public discipline remain confidential under the California Constitution and the commission’s rules.
Pursuant to amendments to the Constitution, which took effect in March 1995, the commission is authorized to impose all disciplinary sanctions, subject to discretionary review by the Supreme Court. Prior to that, the Supreme Court had the authority to censure or remove judges from office upon recommendation by the commission.
Case Profile
New Search| First Name | Wendy M. |
| Last Name | Harris |
| Title | Commissioner |
| Inquiry No. | N/A |
| Court Level | Superior Court |
| County/Appellate District | Riverside |
| Discipline/Determination | Public Admonishment |
| Decision By | Commission |
| Date of Decision | 08/29/2023 |
| Method of Resolution | Decision |
| Types of Misconduct | Demeanor/decorum |
| Petition For Review | N/A |
| Summary | The commission publicly admonished Commissioner Harris for misconduct during two hearings, taking place on two consecutive days. The hearings related to a custody dispute and a request for a domestic violence restraining order. During both hearings, Commissioner Harris was discourteous, argumentative, impatient, and demeaning to the litigants, and appeared to be embroiled in the proceedings. At the first hearing, present in the courtroom were a deputy district attorney (DDA) and an investigator, both from the Child Abduction Unit (CAU). On the second day of the hearing, the same members of the DA’s CAU who attended the first hearing, plus two additional DDAs with supervisory roles in the CAU, were present. At both hearings, Commissioner Harris did not give the DDAs or the investigator an opportunity to provide her with any information. Commissioner Harris’s misconduct was aggravated by prior discipline implemented by the Presiding Judge of Riverside County Superior Court, regarding poor demeanor in the handling of another family law matter. |
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