Yashiba Blanchard

Yellowhammer News published a devastating deep dive into the 120-page Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission complaint against Jefferson County Probate Judge Yashiba Blanchard, who was suspended from the bench in May 2026. The headline quote — "I have no boss" — is not hyperbole. It is a direct window into the mind of a judge who treated her office as a personal fiefdom accountable to no one. Blanchard also reportedly described herself as the "ultimate authority"in her court. These were not offhand remarks made in frustration. They were a governing philosophy — and the 120-page complaint is the documented result of that philosophy applied to real people's lives.

For the first nine months of her tenure, Blanchard held zero involuntary commitment hearings. Zero. These are proceedings that determine whether a person in mental health crisis loses their liberty. She simply did not hold them. When she finally began, she capped her own docket at 12 cases per month — roughly 20% of the expected caseload — and offloaded the rest with no justification. Mentally ill people waited indefinitely for hearings that never came, not because the system failed them, but because this judge could not be bothered. One report indicated she was leaving the courthouse to walk her dogs while her docket collapsed around her.

Beyond the backlog, the complaint documents a sustained pattern of harassment, intimidation, and retaliation against court staff, deliberate bias against attorneys appearing before her, and a brazen failure to recuse herself from a case in which she had previously served as counsel — a requirement so basic that no licensed attorney, let alone a sitting judge, can credibly claim ignorance of it. A separate civil lawsuit alleges a bribery attempt. Blanchard took office in January 2025. She was suspended by May 2026. The speed and breadth of her destruction is a testament to what happens when someone with contempt for accountability is handed a gavel. She is currently suspended while the case proceeds before the Court of the Judiciary.

Jefferson County Probate Judge Yashiba Blanchard was suspended from the bench in May 2026 following a 120-page complaint filed by the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission — one of the most extensive judicial complaints in Alabama history. The complaint documents dozens of allegations including incompetence, unprofessional conduct, harassment and retaliation against staff, bias against attorneys, failure to follow the law, and a manufactured backlog that left the most vulnerable people in her court — those subject to involuntary commitment proceedings — stranded without hearings for months on end.

Blanchard reportedly described herself as the "ultimate authority" in her court, and separately was quoted saying "I have no boss." That entitlement appears to have infected every aspect of her conduct from her very first days on the bench. She was elected in November 2024 and took office in January 2025. She held zero involuntary commitment hearings for her first nine months in office. When she finally began, she capped her own docket at 12 cases per month — roughly 20% of the expected caseload — offloading the rest onto another judge with no justification. People in mental health crisis, awaiting hearings that determine whether they lose their liberty, were left waiting indefinitely because this judge could not be bothered.

The complaint further alleges she failed to disqualify herself from a case in which she had previously served as an attorney — a basic and well-known ethical requirement — and that she engaged in a sustained pattern of targeting, intimidating, and retaliating against her own staff. A separate civil lawsuit alleges a bribery attempt. She had been in office less than five months when the scale of her misconduct triggered formal action. A retired probate judge was appointed to serve in her place while the case proceeds.