Another day, another Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission complaint, it seems. And once again, it’s video footage dragging the truth into the light.
The newest formal complaint is against Judge Kenneth King of the 36th District Court, and it reads like something out of a satirical courtroom drama… except once again, it’s real life. A teenage girl on a school field trip allegedly fell asleep for a moment in the gallery. What happened next?
Handcuffs. A jail jumpsuit. He humiliated this girl by revealing her name, and stepped outside of due process protections to do it. And all of it unfolding on livestream, for the public, and now thankfully, for the JTC, to see. Perhaps the saddest part, is he behaved like a lot of Michigan Judges do, engaging in name-calling, ridicule, and humiliation to make a point. And even with all of this playing out publicly, it still took over a year to get to the formal complaint level.
People trying to report judicial misconduct are all too often dismissed as exaggerating, misunderstood, or “emotional.” But thankfully that’s changing, largely due to the rise of available camera footage. And as a result, Michigan’s JTC has been forced, over and over again, to look directly at what the public can now see for themselves.
A Very Public Year for JTC Complaints
More often than not, I’m a big critic of the JTC, as it doesn’t seem to be built for transparency or accountability. In the past, it seemed the committee was instead built to quietly manage the worst of the worst behavior behind closed doors. But this year? The walls have been kicked wide open.
From judges flipping off courthouse cameras, to judges bullying court staff, and now onto this latest spectacle involving a minor, it feels like every month brings another public complaint and another reminder that the only reason these cases are getting traction is because video evidence makes denial impossible.
The public is watching. The media is watching. Advocates are watching. And I applaud the JTC for finally having to act like someone is watching them.
Why Video Matters So Much
Before cameras became so much more mainstay, a judge’s reputation often outweighed a citizen’s complaint. Now? The evidence is timestamped, recorded, and shareable.
Judge King is noted to have a fairly substantial online following, in the same vein as Judge Jeffrey Middleton and Judge Cedric Simpson, both who have gone viral in their own right. Judges who in the past may have felt untouchable are more often having their footage catch up with them.
Why? It’s because video removes:
- ambiguity
- excuses
- judicial spin
- the “he said/she said” dynamic
- the insulation that has protected judges for decades
Most importantly: video gives power back to the people who never had it in the courtroom. If anything, these cases cement the argument that video footage should be the first thing pulled and reviewed in the event of a JTC complaint.
Court users don’t have the same credibility as a judge but a recording does. And we’re seeing that in real time, complaint after complaint.
However, the reverse is also true; just because a courtroom participant claims a situation went the way it did, doesn’t mean it’s true. It’s protection for courtroom staff just as much as it is for participants.
This Isn’t an Anomaly — It’s a Pattern
If you’ve been following Clutch Justice for a while, you know we’ve been sounding the alarm about accountability and judicial behavior for a while now. Judicial misconduct didn’t suddenly get worse; it’s just finally being caught and dealt with. This year is shaping up to be the most publicly visible JTC year in recent memory. The façade is cracking because the technology is exposing what insiders have whispered about for decades.
Video evidence is democratizing oversight, stripping away the mystique of the robe. It’s officially leveling a playing field that was never truly level to begin with.
Accountability Doesn’t Happen in the Dark
This latest complaint isn’t just about one judge or one incident. It’s about what happens when powerful institutions realize their secrets aren’t protected anymore.
Cameras are doing what the system has failed to do: catch the misconduct the first time, protect the public rather than unwieldy judges, and show us patterns we were never meant to see.
2025 is proving something I’ve been saying for a long time: If you want accountability, you need transparency. But of have that transparency, you need evidence.
This year, thankfully, the cameras have delivered; I sincerely hope it’s a trend that sticks.
