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Although state Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick might have violated these canons during a drunken-driving arrest Monday, legal experts familiar with Ohio's discipline system don't expect her to be removed from the bench. Historically, first-time offenders like Resnick aren't sanctioned, said Lloyd Snyder, associate dean at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University. "It's impossible for a case with this amount of publicity to just go away," Snyder said. But "the fact that somebody has gotten involved in a drunk-driving case on a single occasion doesn't result in a serious action." "They give them one bite at the apple," said John A. Connor, a Franklin County Common Pleas judge whom the state Supreme Court allowed to remain on the bench in December on the condition that he remain sober. "I think if she were an attorney and not a judge, she'd probably get two (drunken-driving convictions)." Most states, including Ohio, base their canons on the American Bar Association's Model Code of Judicial Conduct, with some minor tweaking from state to state, said Christopher Fairman, professor of law at Ohio State University. The Ohio Supreme Court has recognized that showing remorse and getting treatment for an alcohol problem could be mitigating factors in a possible discipline case, Fairman said.
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