The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts issued a rare public reprimand Thursday against Judge Shelley Joseph, ending an eight-year legal saga that began when she was accused of helping an immigrant evade ICE agents at her courthouse.
Joseph, who remains on the bench, was suspended from judicial duties for more than three years after her federal indictment in April 2019. She was assigned to administrative duties in the Boston Municipal Court in December and will now resume judicial responsibilities there, her attorney confirmed.
The court’s decision followed a recommendation from a Commission on Judicial Conduct hearing officer. The commission concluded that Joseph “engaged in willful judicial misconduct that brought the judicial office into disrepute, as well as conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and unbecoming a judicial officer.”
The reprimand stems from a 2018 incident in which Joseph was accused of colluding with an immigrant’s attorney and a court officer to allow him to escape through a back door after a hearing on charges including drug possession. The Supreme Judicial Court found that Joseph created the appearance of impropriety and failed to comply with the law.
“The respondent’s statements during that conversation, including her proposal to detain (the immigrant) overnight in State custody, and her conduct in instructing the clerk to turn off the courtroom audio recording system, created an appearance of impropriety in violation of her duties,” the Supreme Judicial Court wrote in its ruling.
Joseph’s attorney, Elizabeth Mulvey, argued at the commission hearing last year that the case had been distorted over time. She said the public had split into two camps, with half believing Joseph should be jailed and half calling her a “folk hero.”
Mulvey also pushed back against media portrayals that she said gave the impression that “dozens of people” had seen Joseph “get off the bench, escort the defendant to the door, give him a hug and wish him Godspeed.”
On Thursday, Mulvey acknowledged that it had been an “incredibly long and difficult eight years for Judge Joseph.”
“We are grateful to the hearing officer who undertook this monumental task and pleased that his efforts have shown that this was a baseless federal prosecution from the beginning and solely the work of the defense lawyer involved,” Mulvey said in a statement. “Judge Joseph is thankful for everyone who stood by her and looks forward to rejoining her colleagues.”
The federal obstruction of justice charges against Joseph were dropped in 2022 after she agreed to refer herself to the Commission on Judicial Conduct. A court officer who was also charged in 2019 faced separate proceedings.
The Joseph case has drawn renewed attention amid a broader clash between the Trump administration and local authorities over immigration enforcement. A similar case in Wisconsin ended more severely for the judge involved.
Former Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was convicted in December of felony obstruction for helping a man evade immigration authorities. Dugan had escorted a man and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury door after learning that ICE agents were seeking his arrest. The man was taken into custody outside the courthouse after agents chased him on foot.
Dugan resigned in January after nine years on the bench, amid threats of impeachment from Republican state lawmakers who labeled her an activist judge. In her resignation letter, she said her prosecution threatened “the independence of our judiciary.”
Republican US Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Trump loyalist running for Wisconsin governor, had urged authorities to “lock her up.” US District Judge Lynn Adelman fined Dugan $5,000 in July and spared her prison time, describing the case as a situation where an otherwise good person, upset by immigration policies, made a bad decision in the moment.
Joseph’s case differed in its resolution: by agreeing to state disciplinary proceedings, she avoided the felony conviction that ended Dugan’s judicial career. The public reprimand from Massachusetts’s highest court allows her to continue serving, though with a permanent mark on her record.
The Commission on Judicial Conduct’s finding of willful misconduct represented a middle ground between the dropped federal charges and the Wisconsin outcome. The Supreme Judicial Court’s adoption of the hearing officer’s recommendation for reprimand rather than harsher sanctions cleared the path for Joseph’s return to active judicial duties.
Joseph will resume her responsibilities in the Boston Municipal Court, where she had been working in an administrative capacity since December.
PAGES: