A Massachusetts judge has been “publicly reprimanded” by the Supreme Judicial Court for his Facebook posts about the 2020 presidential election.
Housing Court Judge Joseph Michaud — a former Dartmouth selectman and Republican candidate for state rep. who was sworn in by Gov. Charlie Baker in 2018 — violated the Massachusetts Code of Judicial Conduct when he made those social media posts in 2020, the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct has announced.
Michaud, who took home $195,472.70 as a judge last year, made those Facebook posts leading up to and following the 2020 presidential election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. His social media posts were about political figures, political events, and politicized public events.
In its order, the Supreme Judicial Court adopted the Commission on Judicial Conduct’s recommendation that Michaud get publicly reprimanded for that social media activity.
“The Court accepts the recommendation of the Commission that the Judge be publicly reprimanded for his misconduct,” the Supreme Judicial Court wrote. “Public confidence in the judiciary is undermined when a judge’s social media activity casts reasonable doubt on the judge’s capacity to act impartially even if the judge is in fact impartial.”
His Facebook account is now deleted.
When the Herald reached Michaud by phone on Sunday, the judge declined to comment.
“The Judge has acknowledged that he erred by sharing these types of posts that undermine public confidence in the judiciary,” the Supreme Judicial Court wrote. “Contrary to the Judge’s belief that the postings were only visible to his Facebook ‘friends,’ the postings, relating to political figures, political events, and politicized public events, were publicly visible.
“Accordingly, Judge Joseph L. Michaud is hereby publicly reprimanded for the conduct described in the Stipulation of Facts, namely, his making posts on social media that expressed views on political candidates, political figures and issues, and posts that could create the appearance of bias based on gender, ethnicity, or immigration status,” the court added.
The Supreme Judicial Court also ordered that Michaud stay away from trying to identify, retaliate against, or influence any person who has — or who he believes — cooperated with the Commission on Judicial Conduct’s investigation into his judicial conduct.
In 2018, the governor swore in Michaud as an associate justice to the Massachusetts Housing Court, Metro South Division. A decorated member of the U.S. Army, Michaud had served on active duty intermittently for the previous 30 years as a lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocates General Corps.
He had his own practice, the Law Offices of Joseph L. Michaud, where he specialized in residential and commercial real estate transactions and landlord-tenant matters.
Michaud is a former selectman in Dartmouth, and he ran for state representative in the 9th Bristol District in 2010. He didn’t face any opponents in the Republican primary, and then he lost the general election to the Democratic candidate.
