Ethics
Presiding over distant court docket calendar whereas driving in automobile amongst causes for choose’s suspension
September 30, 2025, 12:03 pm CDT
Conducting a distant listening to from a transferring automobile is “not in keeping with decorum in proceedings earlier than the court docket,” the Minnesota Supreme Court docket stated in a latest judicial suspension order. (Picture from Shutterstock)
A Minnesota choose was reprimanded and suspended from workplace with out pay for 9 months, for abusing his authority in a dispute over his court docket reporter’s pay and presiding over a distant court docket calendar from a transferring automobile. However a 3rd allegation regarding bias in opposition to noncitizen juveniles was not an element within the sanction.
The Minnesota Supreme Court docket suspended Decide John P. Dehen of the Tenth Judicial District in Anoka County in a Sept. 22 opinion.
Dehen was on his approach to a swim meet during which a member of the family was competing when he presided over a juvenile court docket calendar that included confidential issues, the court docket stated. His spouse was driving and he was a passenger.
Conducting proceedings from the automobile was “not in keeping with decorum in proceedings earlier than the court docket,” the court docket stated. Dehen additionally failed to put his judicial duties forward of his private actions, in line with the per curiam opinion.
The misconduct, nonetheless, was much less critical than Dehen’s “significantly egregious” actions within the dispute over his court docket reporter’s pay, the court docket acknowledged. He issued two writs of mandamus that ordered a court docket administrator to lift his court docket reporter’s pay, regardless of a battle of curiosity, and didn’t give the administrator a significant alternative to reply, in line with the opinion.
Court docket reporter salaries are set by a union collective bargaining settlement, with these at step 11 on the wage scale incomes the best, in line with the opinion. For Dehen’s court docket reporter, the wage was at a step 2, making her one of many lowest-paid court docket reporters within the judicial department. One other court docket reporter had been in a position to earn a better wage by resigning after which being instantly rehired at a better step.
Dehen’s court docket reporter resigned in September 2023 and Dehen instantly posted the place, with a time limit two days later. He was then knowledgeable that the court docket administrator might solely rehire his reporter at her former wage. The administrator cited a union arbitration choice discovering that judges can’t set compensation for court docket reporters.
“Decide Dehen didn’t settle for that response,” the opinion states.
Dehen then filed an order appointing the court docket reporter and filed a writ of mandamus requiring the administrator to pay her at step 11. After an appeals court docket vacated his order, Dehen “doubled down, repackaged it—creating his personal ‘information’ of which he took judicial discover—and submitted a second writ of mandamus,” the state supreme court docket stated. The brand new order required the administrator to rehire the court docket reporter on the midpoint of the wage vary.
The court docket of appeals as soon as once more vacated Dehen’s order.
In response to the state supreme court docket, Dehen’s actions “wasted treasured judicial sources and disrespected the rule of regulation and the administration of justice that he took an oath to uphold. And by introducing the instruments of litigation into what was primarily a human-resources challenge, Decide Dehen additionally broken the skilled functioning of the judicial department.”
Dehan’s conduct within the pay dispute seemed {that a} choose “could deal with their workplace as a weapon for use in skilled disputes,” the court docket stated. Dehen “repeatedly abused his place of authority, wielding his energy differential over district court docket employees and different staff like a cudgel.”
The court docket acknowledged that Dehen had a good-faith perception his court docket reporter was being handled unfairly, however the best way he selected to resolve the dispute was “clearly improper,” the court docket stated. As well as, Dehen confirmed “little if any regret for his flagrant and egregious actions” within the pay dispute, the court docket wrote.
The court docket rejected a 3rd allegation that Dehen didn’t observe statutory necessities and confirmed bias in opposition to noncitizen, at-risk juveniles when he denied their guardianship petitions.
The statute at challenge says the aim of the guardian is to assist at-risk juveniles aged 18 to 21 obtain steering, help, monetary and emotional assist, and referrals to mandatory sources.
One other part of the statute references potential eligibility for immigration safety when a guardian is appointed in such circumstances.
The state supreme court docket discovered no misconduct. The statute for the appointment of guardians was comparatively new and, when Dehen dominated, there was little or no appellate authority on learn how to construe it, the court docket stated. And the supply concerning particular immigrant safety was arguably in pressure with the statute’s acknowledged functions, in line with the court docket.
Dehen’s reasoning in denying the guardianships was “arguably in keeping with a good-faith effort to use the regulation as he understood it,” the court docket stated.
Dehen’s suspension from the bench will carry over right into a suspension from regulation follow, the opinion states. Dehen has indicated he plans to retire on Oct. 10.
Dehen has been licensed to follow regulation since 1988 and has been a choose since his 2010 election. He’s represented within the matter by Thomas Weidner of Stillwater, Minnesota. Weidner didn’t instantly reply to the ABA Journal’s e mail or voicemail request for remark.
The ABA Journal was unable to succeed in Dehen for remark via the court docket administrator’s workplace, which took a message and stated it will be forwarded to Dehen’s regulation clerk.
Publications overlaying the choice embrace KTSP, the Minnesota Star Tribune, Law360 and the Twin Cities Pioneer Press.
Write a letter to the editor, share a narrative tip or replace, or report an error.
