Rule 28-205 - Confidentiality of informationA.Information to be provided to the commission. The commission shall not receive(1) the original questionnaires;(2) demographic information unless the analysis of such information by the commission's agent proves to be statistically significant and affects the evaluation of the overall professional performance of the judge being evaluated;(3) any survey results concerning any judge being evaluated if a statistically valid sample has not been collected as determined by the commission, or upon recommendation by its agent.B.Completed questionnaires. To ensure confidentiality of respondents' questionnaires, prior to submission of the results of the completed questionnaires to the commission, the commission's agent shall not provide the individual questionnaires to the commission and shall retype any handwritten comments or notes.C.Release of information. The Administrative Office of the Courts or the commission's agent shall not reveal the contents of any questionnaire or comment concerning a judge to anyone other than commission members. The commission shall provide any negative comments from the surveys to the judge who is the subject of the comment, unless doing so would reveal the identity of the person making the comment, in which case the commission shall summarize the substance of the comments and provide the summary to the judge. The commission's agent shall provide to the commission a reproduction of all written survey comments. Since the comments may be shared with the judge, they must be redacted to remove any information that would identify the person commenting. However, the judicial performance evaluation report that is released to the public shall not include survey comments.
D.Release of information to judge. Any judge being evaluated shall be provided with a summary of the pertinent evaluation information, excluding any information that may identify a respondent. The judge shall receive the information not less than ten (10) days prior to any scheduled interview.E.Information entitled to protection. Information relating to a judge that is obtained pursuant to these rules shall not be a public record under the Inspection of Public Records Act. Members of the commission and its staff shall not disclose any information other than as provided by this rule.F.Disclosure of confidential information.(1) The chair of the commission may release certain confidential information concerning the judge in the following circumstances if(a) a nominating commission requests information concerning the appointment of a judge or former judge to another appointed position and the judge signs a waiver for this purpose; or(b) the chief justice requests information pertaining to the appointment or assignment of a retired judge to judicial duties and the judge signs a waiver for this purpose.(2) Upon a majority vote of the commission, with the approval of the Supreme Court, the commission may release certain confidential information concerning the judge in the following circumstances if(a) an inquiry is initiated which becomes the subject of widespread concern, the release of information would benefit the judge and the public and the judge signs a waiver for this purpose;(b) a government agency requests information concerning the appointment of a judge or former judge to another appointed position and the judge signs a waiver for this purpose; or(c) an agency authorized to investigate the qualifications of persons for admission to practice law requires information in order to evaluate a judge's application for admission to the bar of another state and the judge signs a waiver for this purpose.G.Waiver. A judge may waive confidentiality of information by disclosing confidential information relating to the judge to persons other than members of the commission, its staff, the judge's staff, attorneys or advisors.H.Identity of respondents not subject to exception or waiver. Under no circumstance may the commission or any member of its staff release information that may identify or lead to the identification of a person providing information or making comments regarding a judge.I.Retention of information. The commission's agent may not purge information without the prior approval of the commission. The commission or its agent shall destroy all raw questionnaires after the data has been entered and the commission has accepted the aggregate data tables.J.Participation in other activities. Other than the chair or a designee of the chair, no commission member, staff member or agent of the commission may publicly discuss the narrative profile, the retention recommendation or any other information relating to a specific judge except as it relates to the development of the process of judicial evaluation. The commission may designate a sole or primary spokesperson to publicly discuss the process of evaluating the judges.N.M. R. Gov. Judi. Perf. Eval. Commi 28-205
Approved, effective 2/25/2002; as amended by Supreme Court Order 07-8300-28, effective 8/31/2007; by Supreme Court Order No. 10-8300-002, effective 2/24/2010. ANNOTATIONS The 2010 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 10-8300-002, effective February 24, 2010, in Paragraph A, in Subparagraph (3), at the beginning of the sentence after "any" deleted "questionnaire responses" and added "survey results"; in Paragraph B after "the commission's agent shall" added the remainder of the sentence and deleted former language which provided that the commission's agent shall remove information that may identify the respondent, separate demographic information from standard questions and comments, and retype any handwritten comments or notes; in Paragraph C added the second paragraph; in Paragraph D in the first sentence, at the beginning of the sentence deleted "Upon request a", after "summary of the pertinent" deleted "questionnaire" and added "evaluation"; after the word "excluding" deleted "comments and", and after "excluding any" deleted "other"; in Paragraph F, in Subparagraph (2), in Item (b) after "a government agency" deleted "or nominating commission", and deleted Item (d) which provided that information could be released if the chief judge requests information pertaining to the appointment or assignment of a retired judge to judicial duties; and in Paragraph J added the last sentence. The 2007 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order 07-8300-28, effective August 31, 2007, added Subparagraph (1) of Paragraph F to provide for the release of certain confidential information by the chair of the commission or by the chief justice when related to appointment of a judge.