K. Felicia Pitts-Davis Censured

K. Felicia Pitts-Davis, a Syracuse City Court judge in Onondaga County, New York, was censured by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct after refusing to officiate a scheduled courthouse marriage ceremony for a same-sex couple on November 16, 2024. According to the Commission's determination, Pitts-Davis asked a court clerk whether either wedding on the docket that day involved a same-sex couple; told that one might, she said, "Based upon my religious beliefs, I would be prohibited from doing same-sex marriages," and asked court staff to reschedule that couple's ceremony to a different day so she would not have to perform it — while officiating an opposite-sex couple's wedding that same day without objection. The Commission found this constituted "serious misconduct" that "severely undermined public confidence in her impartiality." A grand jury separately concluded she had discriminated against the couple and attempted to conceal her actions, recommending her removal from the bench; the Commission opted for censure rather than removal, and she remains a sitting judge.