The public will be able to attend an Oct. 29 disciplinary hearing concerning allegations against state Supreme Court Justice Chuck McRae.

The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance decided to investigate charges against McRae after five of the eight sitting justices filed a complaint against the Pascagoula native. This is the first time in history that five members of the state high court have asked the judicial commission to investigate one of its own. The ninth justice, Oliver Diaz Jr., has been on a paid leave of absence from the court since he was indicted on federal charges this summer.

A location has not been decided.

This is the first time a hearing about a judge will be open to the public, said Brant Brantley, executive director of the commission. Normally, the public does not know if a judge is being investigated.

Why the commission decided to open the hearing isn't clear.

"The commission only speaks through its minutes and the minutes say they voted to waive confidentiality," Brantley said.

Beverly Pettigrew Kraft, a spokeswoman for the Supreme Court, said the justices never asked that the hearing be public.

The five justices, including Chief Justice Edwin Pittman, say in their complaint that McRae has bullied other justices, called people names and threatened to "whip" Pittman.

The more serious charges against McRae include hearing cases that involve family members, failing to issue orders in a timely fashion and releasing information and orders without consulting other justices.

Bill Kirksey, McRae's lawyer, said he believes the commission may have wanted the hearing to be public because they wanted to make sure there was no appearance of impropriety.

"Quite frankly, there is a history of Justice Pittman making similar complaints against McRae," Kirksey said. "And I think that maybe the commission has said we'll have a hearing on this, but it's going to be in the light of day."

Pittman has some say over who serves on the Judicial Performance Commission. As chief justice, he appoints the seven-member commission based on the recommendations of various people and organizations. Until the law was changed in 2001, the appointees to the commission were made by organizations such as the chancery and circuit court judge associations. Commissioners typically serve staggered six-year terms.

Since the rules were changed in 2001, Pittman has appointed two new members, Brantley said.

"There had been some problems in the past," Brantley said of why the commission's makeup and appointment was changed. "We had some judges that were serving on the commission that were investigated by the commission."

Kirksey said he believes the commission will remain impartial.

"How much control does the chief justice have over the commission?" Kirksey said. "I would hope none. But he does have the power of appointment."

This is not the first time McRae has been in trouble. A special tribunal of lower-court judges decided to censure McRae after he pleaded no-contest to drunken driving charges in 1995.

McRae was defeated last year in his bid for re-election and has only three months left on the bench.

McRae has been blunt about his displeasure with the majority of the court and has made serious allegations about its members in recent written dissents. Judges can write dissents to opinions when they do not agree with the majority. Dissents usually concern differences in interpretation of law, not personal matters.

In a September dissent, McRae called the tactics of the court "astonishing and abominable."

McRae alleges that the majority of the court scheduled an emergency hearing before a scheduled vote and determined an outcome of the case without the full court being there.

In that same dissent, McRae alleges this is not the first time the court has relied on "underhanded" tactics to manipulate outcomes of cases.

McRae wrote that a similar event occurred in February involving a case about the state's Supplemental Retirement Plan, or SLRP, which gives legislators benefits beyond those offered to retiring state employees. Justice William Waller initially recused himself from the case, McRae wrote.

At the time the court was deliberating the merits of the SLRP program, Pittman was lobbying the Legislature about various issues, including pay raises for judges, McRae wrote. Some of those same legislators Pittman was speaking to "were interested in our opinion on their SLRP retirement."

"It (was) against this background that these facts, that Justice Pittman went to Waller and requested that he get back into the (SLRP) case and participate."

Two other justices recused themselves from the case, which would leave four votes in favor of SLRP. It takes five votes to make law. When Waller returned to the case, Pittman was able to secure a five-vote majority and rule in favor of SLRP, McRae writes.

Waller disputes McRae's claims in a separate dissent, saying that he had never fully recused himself from the SLRP program. "I voted 'not participating' on only one circulated proposed opinion. In every other instance, I participated in the case on the merits," Waller wrote.

"I exhort Presiding Justice McRae to cease making attacks on his fellow justices and on the court as a whole," Waller wrote. "When we are forced to respond to Presiding Justice McRae's unfounded allegations, time is taken away from the work that the Supreme Court is supposed to do: the dispensation of justice."

The September dissent may be a good indication of what the Oct. 29 hearing will be like. The commission will present the facts of the case. McRae will have the opportunity to rebut the claims and cross-examine his accusers.

"There are two justices and four clerks who are fighting tooth and nail not to testify or turn over any documents," Kirksey said.

JACKSON, Miss. - Circuit Judge Clarence E. Morgan III of Kosciusko said Thursday that Supreme Court justices must give sworn statements in a case of alleged misconduct against Justice Chuck McRae.

Justices George C. Carlson Jr. and William L. Waller Jr. had asked the Commission on Judicial Performance to block efforts by McRae's attorney to take their depositions.

"With some of these complaints and some of these allegations, the only witnesses are the justices of the Supreme Court. And for them to be able to file a complaint and then say they're not going to tell anybody about it is, if nothing else, basically unfair," Morgan, the chairman of the commission, said after listening to arguments from attorneys for McRae and from attorneys representing those complaining about McRae.

The Commission on Judicial Performance on Oct. 29 is scheduled to hear a complaint that McRae - whose term ends in early January - had threatened to disrupt the Supreme Court's work during his final months on the court. The complaint seeks to remove him from office.

The commission charged McRae with misconduct after hearing allegations that he had threatened to "whip" the chief justice, leaked confidential court documents and intentionally delayed cases.

Chief Justice Ed Pittman and justices James Smith, Kay Cobb, Carlson and Waller filed a formal complaint about McRae with the commission Aug. 28. The commission filed charges Sept. 17.

Frank Montague of Hattiesburg, an attorney for the justices and Supreme Court employees from whom McRae is seeking depositions, argued before Morgan Thursday that his clients have not had time to prepare to answer questions under oath.

"We're all operating in a climate of embarrassment for the state and its judicial system because of this proceeding," Montague said.

Morgan noted that McRae only has about 90 days left in office, and said the justices who had complained about him "dictated the pace" of the hearing over McRae's conduct.

Carlson and Waller, in their motion, said they "do not acknowledge any power of the commission to subpoena them to either testify or to produce documents because of certain privileges."

Katherine Nester of Jackson, an attorney for McRae, said it was wrong of Carlson and Waller to try to avoid depositions.

"The pervasive theme of their objection is that, 'We're special,'" Nester said.

Morgan said the justices and Supreme Court employees would have to give depositions, but they would be subject to questions only about matters directly related to the complaints.

Morgan also said he was putting a protective order on the depositions so information from them would be given only to McRae's attorneys. The sworn statements are to be taken next week at the Mississippi Bar Center, a couple of blocks from the state Supreme Court building.

McRae has been on the high court more than 13 years, but he came in last in a three-way race last fall.

According to the complaint, McRae told Pittman in December: "I have 369 days left in my term, and I intend to have fun on every one of them. I'm going to call you a 'Li'l Tadpole' every day that I can."

"He put the court on notice: 'I will make your lives miserable,'" Pittman said.