Two California judges were publicly censured Tuesday for “engaging in sexual intercourse” with women inside their chambers, The Los Angeles Times reported.
The judges, Scott Steiner and Cory Woodward, from Orange County and Kern County, respectively, were hit by the judicial oversight panel with the most severe public discipline possible short of removing them from the bench.
“Engaging in sexual intercourse in the courthouse is the height of irresponsible and improper behavior by a judge,” the commission wrote, according to The Times.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Steiner had intimate relations with former law students, and Woodward carried on a 10-month relationship with a court clerk. They are both former prosecutors.
In one case, Steiner reportedly wrote a letter of recommendation for the intern for a job opening at the district attorney’s office and “sounded perplexed and irritated” when he called the office after she didn’t get the job.
An attorney who represented both jurists in other proceedings told The Chronicle that they had cooperated with the investigations and apologized