File a complaint & get help
Where to go for legal aid, a lawyer referral, or to file a complaint with the right agency or court. These are public services — no money changes hands here. This is information, not legal advice.
Complaint against a judge (judicial misconduct)
Misconduct is about a judge's conduct, not whether a ruling was right. A misconduct complaint cannot change or review a ruling — the remedy for a wrong ruling is an appeal.
Federal judges: file a written complaint with the clerk of the U.S. Court of Appeals for that circuit under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act (28 U.S.C. §§ 351–364); the circuit's chief judge reviews it. It does not cover U.S. Supreme Court Justices.
State judges: every state has its own judicial-conduct commission (in Texas, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct) — file on that commission's official form.
The full step-by-step, limits, and authorities →
Authority: Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980, 28 U.S.C. §§ 351–364. · 28 U.S.C. § 351 (complaints; definition of 'judge' — circuit, district, bankruptcy, magistrate judges; excludes Supreme Court Justices). · 28 U.S.C. § 455 (disqualification of a justice, judge, or magistrate judge — the impartiality/conflict grounds a complaint often draws on).