Head of Judicial Watchdog Agency Resigns

By Elaine Owen, Editor of Fannin Sentinel 

Facing at least one formal ethics complaint, the judge who chairs the state Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) resigned from the agency Friday.

Brenda Weaver, chief Superior Court judge of the Appalachian Circuit and chairwoman of the JQC since April, announced her resignation in an email to her six fellow commission members late Friday. Weaver gave no reason for her resignation but said, “The work of this commission is extremely important and nothing and no one should distract from its duties and responsibilities.”

Weaver said she intends to use the time she had spent working on judicial ethics matters “to expand and improve services” in her circuit’s accountability courts and veterans court.

An ethics complaint had been filed against Weaver last month by the Society of Professional Journalists in connection with a civil subpoena and a public records request drawn up to obtain bank records associated with Weaver’s court operating account, which is funded by taxpayer dollars from the three counties in her judicial circuit.