Judicial accountability

If anyone needed a reminder of the staggering power bestowed upon the judiciary, Las Vegas Municipal Judge George Assad provided it in 2003 when he locked up an innocent woman as bait to compel her boyfriend to appear in his courtroom.

And if anyone needed a reminder of how hard it is to hold jurists accountable for their errors, the Nevada Supreme Court provided it Thursday by all but excusing Judge Assad's flagrant disregard of civil rights.

Of all the judicial hijinks Nevadans have endured over the past decade -- from the Nevada Supreme Court's nefarious ruling in Guinn v. Legislature to District Judge Elizabeth Halverson's inappropriate personal and professional conduct -- Judge Assad's decision to unlawfully strip a citizen of her liberty over someone else's unpaid parking tickets stands out as a shocking abuse of authority.

No one even slightly familiar with the Bill of Rights, let alone possessing a law degree, could possibly consider such an action appropriate.

Ann Chrzanowski filed a complaint with the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline, and the panel responded by issuing a public censure of Judge Assad. Considering Ms. Chrzanowski was handcuffed and placed in a holding cell for two hours, an official declaration that Judge Assad badly screwed up seemed an awfully soft punishment. But it at least warned the rest of Nevada's judges that they would be called out for similar misconduct.

On Thursday, however, the Nevada Supreme Court inexplicably decided the public censure was too harsh, and that Judge Assad's comment to Ms. Chrzanowski that "we're going to have to lock you up until he gets here" amounted to nonwillful conduct. The ruling revoked the censure against Judge Assad and ordered him to apologize to Ms. Chrzanowski and attend a class on judicial ethics at his own expense.

Judge Assad's action against Ms. Chrzanowski was fitting a hostage-taking thug, not someone entrusted to uphold the law.

"This sends a terrible message to the judiciary and the public," said Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, which wrote an amicus brief in support of Ms. Chrzanowski's federal lawsuit against the city. The federal lawsuit was dismissed because Judge Assad enjoys judicial immunity.

"No one should be surprised the next time this happens."

And no one should be surprised when the Nevada Supreme Court fails to provide meaningful accountability the next time this happens.

The Supreme Court got this one completely wrong.