Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex, seat of the New Jersey Supreme Court. (Courtesy photo)

The New Jersey Supreme Court disclosed Wednesday that it will seek the removal of John Russo Jr., the Ocean County judge who has been in the headlines for making insensitive statements to a rape victim.

An order issued by the court Wednesday said it had reviewed an ethics complaint seeking Russo's suspension, but determined that “it is necessary under the circumstances to consider the full quantum of possible discipline, including removal from judicial office.”

The court ordered the formation of a panel to conduct a hearing and report its findings to the Supreme Court, unless Russo opts to rest on the record already developed before the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, and to present argument to the Supreme Court as to why he should not be removed from office.

The committee found clear and convincing evidence that Russo committed misconduct in his questioning the sexual assault victim and in three other instances, and violated multiple canons of the Code of Judicial Conduct, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said in the order.

Russo's conduct at a hearing on an application for a final restraining order was the most serious of the incidents, Rabner's order said. The committee found his questioning of the victim “suggest[ed] a degree of intolerance and insensitivity towards victims of sexual assault that is antithetical to the public policy of this state and to the Judiciary's mandate to act with integrity,” the order said. When the hearing ended, Russo also made comments to staff members in court that the committee said “besp[oke] an absolute disregard for the solemnity that must attend every court proceeding, particularly those involving such serious concerns as domestic violence.”

In that case, a woman was seeking a restraining order against a man who she claimed abandoned her along a roadway, threatened to burn her house down and forced her to have sex. The complaint alleges that Russo, from the bench, put himself in the position of defense counsel by asking her if she tried to “run away,” “block[ed her] body parts,” “close[d] your legs,” or called for the police.

The other matters forming the basis of the disciplinary charges against Russo includes a personal guardianship case in which he asked a judiciary employee to contact her counterpart in another vicinage and request that a hearing be rescheduled to accommodate him. He was also accused of failing to recuse from a family court matter involving a high school classmate, in which he reduced a child support lien from $10,000 to $300, and allegedly called a woman involved in a paternity case to warn her that she could be sanctioned if she did not heed a court order to comply with a paternity test.

Rabner said in a statement Wednesday that the judiciary will develop an enhanced training program for judges of the Municipal, Superior, and Supreme courts in the areas of sexual assault, domestic violence, implicit bias and diversity.

Russo, who was confirmed in December 2015, is the son of former state Senate President John Russo, who represented the 10th District in Ocean County as a Democrat from 1982 to 1991.

He filed a separate civil suit in 2017, claiming he was suspended from the bench after clashing with supervising judges over time he spent attending to the needs of his disabled son. Russo's suit named the state judiciary, Ocean County Assignment Judge Marlene Lynch Ford and Presiding Family Judge Madelin Einbinder.

And in March of this year, a former law clerk, Valisha Desir, filed a sexual harassment suit against Russo.

Russo could not be reached for comment.