Per curiam. This judicial discipline matter is before the Court on the Report and Recommendation of the Hearing Panel of the Judicial Qualifications Commission (“JQC”) and timely filed Notices of Exceptions filed by the Director of the JQC and respondent Gerald Johnson. The Hearing Panel recommended that Johnson be removed from office for violating Rules 1.1, 1.2 (A), and 1.2 (B) of the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct (“CJC”). Johnson, however, submitted his resignation to Governor Kemp shortly after the Hearing Panel filed its Report and Recommendation. Removal from office is the only sanction the JQC seeks, and we cannot remove a former judge from an office he no longer holds. Accordingly, we dismiss. According to the formal charges, which Johnson admits are true and correct, on the evening of October 18, 2021, the Habersham County Sheriffs Office received a call regarding multiple gunshots fired in the residential area where Johnson lived. Travis Jarrell, the Habersham County Sheriffs Office lieutenant who responded to the call, knew Johnson and knew that Johnson lived in the area, so he went to Johnson’s house to ask Johnson whether he had any information about the gunshots. After Jarrell rang Johnson’s doorbell, Johnson opened the door and pointed a loaded AR-15 rifle at Jarrell. Jarrell, who feared for his safety, fled to his patrol vehicle, and Johnson dropped the rifle. Johnson then spoke with Jarrell but told Jarrell he did not want their conversation to be recorded. As Johnson and Jarrell spoke, Johnson called Jarrell by his first name and several times asked Jarrell to turn off his recording device. Each time, Jarrell informed Johnson he could not turn off the recording device. Johnson, who was angry, visibly intoxicated, unstable on his feet, and spoke with slurred speech, admitted to Jarrell that he had fired an AR-15 rifle from his porch that evening while intoxicated. Eight days after the incident, Johnson told the JQC Chief Investigator that the day of the incident was a “blur” because he had been drinking excessively, but he remembered sitting in his chair and hearing his wife’s “chatter,” which aggravated him and caused him to “snap.” Johnson admitted he then went to the porch and fired multiple rounds from the rifle into the ground, and when Jarrell came to his house in a marked patrol vehicle, he answered the door with the loaded rifle pointed at Jarrell’s head. On October 28, 2021, the Investigative Panel filed a consent motion suspending Johnson pending a final determination of the JQC’s investigation. Johnson was suspended with pay by order of this Court on October 29, 2021. On March 31, 2022, the Director filed a four-count formal complaint against Johnson. Count 1 alleged Johnson, in violation of Rule 1.2 (A), “failed to act in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary.” Count 2 charged Johnson with a violation of Rule 1.2 (B) by failing “to establish, maintain, and enforce high standards of conduct and personally observe such standards of conduct so the integrity of the judiciary might be preserved[.]” Count 4 charged Johnson with failing to respect and comply with the law in violation of Rule 1.1[1] A formal hearing on the charges against Johnson was held on November 16, 2022. On January 6, 2023, the Hearing Panel submitted to this Court its Report and Recommendation in which it concluded that the Director had proved Counts 1, 2, and 4 by clear and convincing evidence. Although the Hearing Panel acknowledged in its Report that all proven misconduct attributed to Johnson was personal in that it did not occur when Johnson was exercising his official responsibilities, it concluded that Johnson had “brought the judicial office into disrepute with his actions,” and “restoring Johnson to the bench would not ‘respect and honor the judicial office as a public trust,’ nor would it ‘enhance and maintain confidence in our legal system.’” The Hearing Panel thus issued its recommendation that Johnson be removed from his position as Chief Judge of the Magistrate Court of Habersham County. Five days later, Johnson submitted, and Governor Brian Kemp subsequently accepted, his letter of resignation. The matter is now before this Court, where Johnson asserts that the Hearing Panel made several errors in its findings and conclusions, and the Director argues that Johnson should be “removed” from office pursuant to this Court’s authority under Article VI, Section VII, Paragraph VII (a) of the Georgia Constitution of 1983 to discipline judges.[2] It is unnecessary to address the arguments of either party, however, because once Johnson’s resignation was accepted by the Governor, the Director’s request that this Court remove Johnson from office[3] became moot.[4]See OCGA § 5-6-48 (b) (3) (An appeal shall be dismissed “[w]here the questions presented have become moot.”); Scarbrough Group v. Worley, 290 Ga. 234, 236 (719 SE2d 430) (2011) (“A case is moot when its resolution would amount to the determination of an abstract question not arising upon existing facts or rights.”) (citations, punctuation, and emphasis omitted). This matter is, therefore, dismissed.[5] Dismissed. All the Justices concur, except Colvin, J., not participating.
