Courtroom doors are set to open Monday in Los Angeles for one of the most anticipated judicial disciplinary hearings in recent history.

Jeffrey Johnson, who will mark his 10th anniversary as an associate justice on the Second District Court of Appeal this month, faces a three-judge panel of special masters tasked with evaluating 10 counts of misconduct filed against him.

The Commission on Judicial Performance has accused Johnson of sexual harassment, misconduct and drunken behavior unbecoming a judge. The allegations, which Johnson largely has contested, are laid out in lurid details in a 19-page notice filed in January and two subsequent amendments that tacked on additional accusations by more women.

The proceedings, taking place in the wake of #MeToo movement, are expected to last four weeks. Attorneys for Johnson and the examiners have submitted witness lists with a combined total of 168 names, including judges, attorneys and Johnson family members.

Johnson has responded in filings that he “accepts full responsibility for his conduct where it is clear he has faltered.” But he said the most serious allegations against him—that he groped a colleague and propositioned his security detail for sex—are false.

“As stated in our filings, this is a whisper campaign to malign Justice Johnson’s distinguished career on the bench and his admirable work in the community,” Paul S. Meyer, co-counsel for Johnson, said in a statement Friday. “Despite this, Justice Johnson remains respectful and committed to the process looks forward to a careful review of the facts by those who will decide this matter.”

If the special masters and, ultimately, the Commission on Judicial Performance find the allegations credible, Johnson could be removed from office as the most severe punishment.

Court and judicial branch leaders, as well as the attorneys in the case, have said little publicly about the proceedings. Here’s what we know and don’t know so far.

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Who is Jeffrey Johnson?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Johnson to the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles in August 2009. A former associate at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles, Johnson served as assistant U.S. attorney in California’s Central District from 1989 to 1999. The South Carolina native was then named a magistrate judge on the Central District bench.

The Commission on Judicial Performance complaint alleged that, as a magistrate, Johnson “engaged in a pattern of conduct towards female court employees that was unwelcome, undignified, discourteous, and offensive,” including asking a clerk if she had breast augmentation. None of those allegations was made public before Johnson joined the Second District court in Los Angeles.

In 2017, the state Judicial Council honored Johnson for his work on a committee charged with cutting costs for courthouse construction projects. In recent years, he was occasionally mentioned by court-watchers as a potential California Supreme Court nominee—he would have been the first African American man on the court since Associate Justice Allen Broussard retired in 1991—in part because he graduated from Yale, the same law school Gov. Jerry Brown attended. Brown appointed three other Yale alumni to the high court during his second tenure in office.

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The claims against Johnson include allegations from a fellow judge.

The Commission on Judicial Performance has claimed that Johnson sexually harassed or inappropriately touched more than two dozen colleagues and court employees over an 18-year period.

Among his accusers are fellow Second District Justice Victoria Chaney, who told commission investigators that Johnson groped her breasts and patted her buttocks on more than one occasion at the appellate courthouse. Two California Highway Patrol officers assigned to Johnson’s security detail said the justice made inappropriate sexually charged comments and propositioned one for sex.

Johnson is also accused of appearing drunk at the courthouse and in public, including at the 2011 wedding reception for Assistant U.S. Attorney Julian Andre. Johnson officiated at Andre’s wedding. Johnson has said he is diabetic and low blood sugar can cause symptoms that mimic drunkenness.

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Meet the attorneys, and hearing panel, involved in the case.

Johnson is represented by Costa Mesa attorney Paul Meyer; Reg Vitek of Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek, Thomas Warwick Jr. of Grimes & Warwick; and Willie Brown Jr., the former mayor of San Francisco.

Examiners for the Commission on Judicial Performance are Emma Bradford, Mark Lizarraga and Bradford Battson.

The special masters hearing the case are Justice Judith Haller of the Court of Appeal for the Fourth District, Imperial County Superior Court Judge William Lehman and San Diego County Superior Court Judge Louis Hanoian.

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The ethics claims have spurred related litigation.

Johnson on July 1 sued his court and its administrative presiding justice, Elwood Lui, for $10 million. Johnson alleged he suffered emotional distress when Lui in July 2018 sent an email summarizing Lui’s conversation with one of Johnson’s accusers, CHP Officer Tatiana Sauquillo, to members of the state Supreme Court and dozens of appellate court justices and those courts’ staff members.

Lui and the court’s executive director, Dan Potter, have not explained publicly why the email was sent.

Sauqillo, filed her own suit July 17 against Johnson, the Second District court and her former employer, the California Highway Patrol. Saquillo is seeking unspecified damages tied to Lui’s email and Johnson’s alleged harassment.

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There are larger issues at play in the misconduct case.

California’s judiciary has struggled with handling sexual harassment claims brought against judges.

The judicial branch last year, prompted by requests for public records from The Recorder and other outlets, revealed that it had spent just under $645,000 to settle sexual harassment and gender discrimination claims filed against judicial officers since 2012.

Most of the details and the names of the accused judges remain secret, however. Executives at the Second District Court of Appeal have also declined to answer basic questions about the allegations against Johnson, including whether he continues to work a normal schedule in the courthouse.

In July, the Judicial Council approved a committee report that calls for new rules outlining uniform policies on how courts should process harassment and misconduct allegations in courthouse workplaces.

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