Justices to Judge Bradbury: Move within three weeks

The Idaho Supreme Court has ruled that 2nd District Judge John Bradbury is violating the residency requirement for his judgeship, and ordered him to make his primary home in Idaho County within three weeks. Click here to read more at spokesman.com, and you can read the court’s 19-page ruling here . For more on what Bradbury’s case has revealed about Idaho’s secrecy-laden system for disciplining judges, click here ; the judge has homes in two counties within the judicial district, but spends more time at his home in Lewiston, which he says is closer to his court hearings. The Idaho Judicial Council initiated ethics proceedings against Bradbury because the law requires him to “actually reside” in Idaho County. He has a home there in Grangeville, but stays there less often than in Lewiston.

In a 3-1 decision authored by Justice Jim Jones, the Idaho Supreme Court declined to suspend the judge from office, as the Judicial Council had recommended; instead, it merely ordered him to make Idaho County his home, and prove it by providing the court with an affidavit within three weeks. “So long as Petitioner carries through with these representations, the matter will be satisfactorily resolved,” Jones wrote. Justice Pro Tem Wayne Kidwell dissented, saying the law requiring judges to “actually reside” in an assigned county doesn’t clearly prohibit having homes both there and elsewhere. When Bradbury was elected judge, he bought a home in Grangeville, registered to vote there, and established his homeowner’s exemption there.

Kidwell noted in his dissent, “Neither the record presented or the majority opinion suggests any shirking of his job. On the contrary it appears that Judge Bradbury is dutifully carrying out the responsibilities to which he has been constitutionally elected.” Bradbury maintained that because of the nature of his sprawling multi-county judicial district, he couldn’t return to Idaho County every night and still do his job as a judge. Bradbury is a maverick who narrowly lost an election for a Supreme Court seat last year. An outspoken reformist and advocate of electing rather than appointing judges, he’s also known for operating multiple drug and mental health courts within his district and frequently travels to hear cases.