Erika Ballou Censured Suspended Removed

Clark County District Court Judge Erika Ballou captioned a Facebook photo of herself in a hot tub with two of her own courthouse's public defenders: "Robson is surrounded by great t**s." That April 2022 post — along with a September 2021 Instagram photo from a music festival, captioned with the hashtag "#VacateTheSh*tOuttaOutofCustodyCases" while she complained about an 8:30 a.m. calendar the next morning — became the basis of a formal ethics complaint filed January 24, 2024. The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline found both posts violated the state's judicial conduct code, including a rule barring judges from creating the impression that anyone is in a position to influence them. Ballou was publicly censured, admitted the violations, and was ordered into remedial ethics classes. Rather than address the charges when they were filed, she posted Cardi B lyrics to Facebook about rising to fame despite critics: "Went from makin' tuna sandwiches to makin' the news. I started speakin' my mind and tripled my views."

A second, far more consequential case followed in 2025. After the Nevada Supreme Court reversed a ruling in defendant Mia Christman's case and ordered her returned to custody, Ballou failed to remand her. The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline charged Ballou with misconduct, and found her guilty on all three counts by a unanimous 7-0 vote — citing not just the failure to follow the higher court's direct order but a broader lack of diligence and competence in her judicial duties. The commission suspended her without pay for six months, ordered further remedial training, and placed her on two years of probation.

Ballou then failed to complete that required training on schedule, and her unpaid suspension was extended. In May 2026, she resigned and was permanently barred from ever again serving on the Nevada bench.

A single lapse in judgment might be a defensible one-off. A hot tub photo mocking her own court's caseload, a direct refusal to follow the state's highest court, and a failure to even complete the remedial training she was ordered into — three separate, formal disciplinary actions, escalating each time — describe a pattern, not an isolated mistake. Nevada's own disciplinary system censured her, then suspended her, then finally ran out of patience and ended her judicial career for good.