The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline has suspended novice District Court Judge Elizabeth Halverson for at least three months. The commission stated that Halverson “poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the public, and a substantial threat to the administration of justice.”
And that was it. The commission gave no further reason behind its ruling. But criticisms of Halverson have been circulating ever since she took the bench in January—everything from her obesity to her inexperience with criminal law to the massages she would order her bailiff to perform on her feet.
The suspension, however, will not prevent the judge from collecting her $130,000 annual salary. Which means, for the next three months, Halverson will receive $32,500 in pay she did not work for, at the cost of taxpayers. Money which very well could go to other public services, such as:
32,500 double cheeseburgers at McDonald’s, for the county’s homeless;
500 rounds of drinks for the 13 volunteer Clark County firefighters who helped battle the wild blazes in Northern Nevada last week;
48 hand-and-foot rejuvenation massages at the Ritz Carlton in Lake Las Vegas for each of the other five senior judges who will substitute for Halverson during her suspension;
3 semesters of tuition at Boyd School of Law for an aspiring Clark County judge;
2 months of former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny’s consulting services;
1 brand new Clark County schoolteacher.