New York’s Top Judge Resigns Amid Misconduct Proceeding

The state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct had been investigating Judge DiFiore for several months in connection with a complaint filed last year by

Dennis Quirk,

head of the court officers union, according to the knowledgeable people. The commission voted in June to serve Judge DiFiore with a formal written complaint alleging that she improperly used her official position to influence a disciplinary hearing involving Mr. Quirk, those people said.

The formal complaint could have led to a hearing before the commission, which has the power to privately caution judges or issue public admonitions or censures. The commission can also remove judges from office. However, it has no jurisdiction over jurists once they leave office, meaning her resignation effectively ends the investigation.

Mr. Quirk had been subject to a disciplinary hearing after court officials accused him of threatening to retaliate against Judge DiFiore in 2020. Mr. Quirk emailed the judge threatening to share information about her private life after a news report said she ordered an investigation into the union leader’s alleged racism, according to a copy of the email filed in a related court case.

Following the disciplinary proceeding, Mr. Quirk was temporarily suspended from his job as a court officer. In past interviews about the incident, he has denied any racist behavior.

In letter dated Aug. 24 of last year, Judge DiFiore wrote to

Phyllis Flug,

who was presiding over the hearing, that Mr. Quirk had a “childish temper tantrum” and that “absent significant sanction, he will be emboldened to engage in similar misconduct in the future,” according to a copy reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

“I implore you to use your authority wisely to uphold the values of our entire court system,” Judge DiFiore also wrote in the message, which was printed on official letterhead.

New York’s rules of judicial conduct state that judges may not lend the prestige of judicial office to advance their private interests and cannot voluntarily testify as a character witness.

Deborah Scalise,

who represented Judge DiFiore in the matter, said, “Complaints such as Mr. Quirk’s are filed all the time. That is part of being a public official in this day and age.”

She said Judge DiFiore was planning her resignation for months and that it was “completely unrelated to Mr. Quirk’s complaint or any other external factors.”

Commission on Judicial Conduct administrator

Robert Tembeckjian

said he is prohibited from commenting on any commission matter.

Law360 previously reported that Judge DiFiore was under investigation by the Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Judge DiFiore said in her public resignation letter Monday that she was proud to have eliminated a backlog of cases, promoted racial equity and guided the court system through the pandemic. “It is time for me to move on to the next chapter of my professional life,” she wrote.

Judge DiFiore was the district attorney in Westchester County when she was nominated to the Court of Appeals by former Gov.

Andrew Cuomo

in December of 2015. She was sworn in two months later. She also previously chaired the state’s recently disbanded ethics watchdog, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics.

Legal groups praised her administration of the system, including increases to funding for civil legal services. In 2020, she commissioned a report that found racial disparities in hiring and a “culture of toxicity” among court officers.

She also wrote an opinion in April invalidating new maps for the House of Representatives drawn by Democrats in the state legislature, dealing a blow to the party’s efforts to maintain control of Congress.

Democratic Gov.

Kathy Hochul

will name Judge DiFiore’s successor from a list of names that will be provided by a screening commission. Ms. Hochul said that Judge DiFiore was a “critical asset” to the court system during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Write to Jimmy Vielkind at Jimmy.Vielkind@wsj.com and Corinne Ramey at Corinne.Ramey@wsj.com