Arizona commission deems 2 judges unfit for bench

• Arizona Judicial Performance Review Commission rates judges Benjamin Norris, Catherine Woods unfit
• No Maricopa or Pima County judge has been voted off the bench since 1978
• Commision has 30 members, including 18 who are neither judges nor attorneys

The state commission that rates and evaluates judicial performance for Arizona has found two Superior Court judges unfit to remain in office.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Benjamin Norris, who serves on the family-court bench, and Pima County Superior Court Judge Catherine Woods, a juvenile-court judge, were found to be below the state's Judicial Performance Review standards.

Both are up for retention on their county ballots in the Nov.4 general election. Neither could be reached for comment.

Maricopa and Pima counties stopped electing judges in 1974, when the state instituted a merit selection system for the larger counties.

Every two years, the names of half of the judges in those counties appear on the general-election ballot under the question: "Shall the following judges of the Superior Court be retained in office?"

Only two judges have ever been voted off the bench since the system began. None has lost retention election since 1978.

The last time a Superior Court judge was rated below standard was in 2008, but that judge also was retained in the election.

"That's why it's essential to vote these people out so that it isn't a lifetime appointment," said Mark Harrison, an attorney who specializes in attorney ethics.

The Arizona Performance Commission on Judicial Retention has 30 members, including six judges, six attorneys and 18 public members who are neither attorneys nor judges. They evaluate the judicial performance reviews, which are conducted twice each term.

Fifty-one judges are on the Maricopa County ballot for the November election: two Arizona Supreme Court justices, three Arizona Court of Appeals judges and 46 Maricopa County Superior Court judges. Only Norris did not meet the Judicial Performance Review standards.

Mike Hellon, the commission chairman, said the reasons that Norris and Woods were found unfit for the bench were decided during executive session and cannot be discussed. Hellon, a public member of the commission, said his own reading of the low evaluations had to do with their courtroom courtesy and demeanor.

"I personally place a very high value on the notion that everyone who appears in court, regardless of the outcome, needs to walk out confident that his version of events has not just been heard by the judge but listened to," Hellon said.

Norris was appointed to the Maricopa County bench in 2008 and first served as a juvenile-court judge. Before that he was an attorney in private practice and had been a U.S. Justice Department trial attorney. Twenty-five of the commissioners voted that Norris did not meet Judicial Performance Review standards; three voted in his favor.

"I'm not aware of a judge ever getting 25 votes not to retain," said Hellon, who has been on the commission since 2005 and has been its chairman for eight years.

Woods has been a Pima County judge since 2011. The commission voted 22 to 7 that she did not meet standards.