Article IV, § 37 — Court on the Judiciary

(a) A Court on the Judiciary is hereby created consisting of the Chief Justice and the Justices of the Supreme Court, the Chancellor, the President Judge of the Superior Court, the Chief Judge of the Family Court, the Chief Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and the Chief Magistrate of the Justice of the Peace Court. (b) Any judicial officer appointed by the Governor may be censured or removed or retired by the Court on the Judiciary under this Section. (c) A judicial officer may be censured or removed by virtue of this Section for wilful misconduct in office, wilful and persistent failure to perform duties, the commission after appointment of an offense involving moral turpitude, or other persistent misconduct in violation of the Canons of Judicial Ethics as adopted by the Supreme Court from time to time. (d) A judicial officer may be retired by virtue of this Section for permanent mental or physical disability interfering with the proper performance of the duties of office. (e) No judicial officer shall be censured or removed or retired under this Section unless served with a written statement of the charges against the judicial officer, or of the grounds of retirement, and shall have had an opportunity to be heard in accordance with due process of law. The affirmative concurrence of not less than two-thirds of the members of the Court on the Judiciary shall be necessary for the censure or removal or retirement of a judicial officer. The Court on the Judiciary shall be convened for appropriate action upon the order of the Chief Justice, or upon the order of any other 3 members of the Court on the Judiciary. All hearings and other proceedings of the Court on the Judiciary shall be private, and all records except a final order of removal or retirement shall be confidential, unless the judicial officer involved shall otherwise request. (f) Upon an order of removal, the judicial officer shall thereby be removed from office, all authority, rights and privileges as a judicial officer shall cease from the date of the order, and a vacancy shall be deemed to exist as of that date. Upon an order of retirement, the judicial officer shall thereby be retired with such rights and privileges as may be provided by law for the disability retirement of a judicial officer, and a vacancy shall be deemed to exist as of the date of retirement. (g) In the absence or disqualification of a member of the Court on the Judiciary, the Chief Justice, or in the Chief Justice’s absence or disqualification the the next qualified and available Justice, who by seniority is next in rank to the Chief Justice, shall appoint a substitute member pro tempore. (h) The Court on the Judiciary shall have: