Steven King Censured Suspended

Steven D. King, a Blount County, Alabama Circuit Judge who had served since 2007, was suspended and later censured by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary after the state's Judicial Inquiry Commission found he violated judicial ethics canons. According to the Commission's complaint, King anonymously wrote a letter criticizing two Blount County commissioners and a Warrior police officer, stating they were "unfit for public office," and had a lawyer mail the letter along with other documents and recordings to several local media outlets.

The package included a recording of a county commissioner using a racial slur. The Court of the Judiciary accepted a recommendation to censure King rather than impose a harsher sanction; he was already scheduled to leave office when the discipline was finalized.