Massachusetts top court mulls disciplining judge in ICE arrest evasion case

By Nate Raymond

BOSTON, May 4 (Reuters) - Massachusetts' highest court on Monday grappled with whether to publicly reprimand a judge who was criminally charged during the first Trump administration with helping a migrant avoid arrest by an immigration agent at her courthouse.

A lawyer for the state's judicial ethics watchdog told the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that discipline was needed given the appearance of impropriety involving Judge Shelley Joseph, who agreed to face a disciplinary probe in exchange for federal prosecutors dropping their case against her.

The six justices appeared open to imposing some form of discipline, though Justice Serge Georges questioned whether a public reprimand was justified given that past judges who have received such sanctions faced "much more harsh" allegations than Joseph.

"Wouldn't this be setting a new bar here?” he asked.

The criminal case against Joseph, filed in 2019, was a high-profile example of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration clashing with local officials who resisted his immigration crackdown in both his first and second terms.

Prosecutors alleged that Joseph, in April 2018, allowed a Dominican man in a criminal case before her to avoid being detained by an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement by letting him leave the building through a rear door in her Newton, Massachusetts, courthouse.

Prosecutors dropped the indictment against Joseph in 2022 after Trump had left office in exchange for the judge referring herself to judicial disciplinary authorities.

The Massachusetts Judicial Conduct Commission launched the disciplinary case in December 2024 and originally sought to have Joseph suspended and referred to the state legislature and governor for removal.

But it is now only seeking a public reprimand, after a judicial disciplinary hearing officer in November concluded the commission had failed to prove she knew about the plan to help the defendant evade ICE.

Commission counsel Judith Fabricant said discipline was still warranted based on separate findings that Joseph violated the judicial code of conduct by holding an off-the-record discussion of the defendant's case with his lawyer and suggesting they could have the man jailed overnight for the illegitimate purpose of keeping him in state rather than federal custody.

"A judge must stay in her role," Fabricant said, "not attempt to address issues outside her authority."

Elizabeth Mulvey, Joseph's lawyer, countered that the court should outright dismiss the disciplinary case, saying the only reason it was brought was because of a false allegation that had led to her wrongful prosecution.

"To discipline a judge who was trying to do the best she can is not justice, and there's no precedent for it," Mulvey said.

The case is In Re: Shelley M. Joseph, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, No. OE-0157.

For the Massachusetts Judicial Conduct Commission: Judith Fabricant

For Joseph: Elizabeth Mulvey of Libby Hoopes Brooks & Mulvey

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