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Oregon Supreme Court Set To Hear Judge Vance Day's Fitness Case

<p>An ethics investigation has been launched regarding Marion County Circuit Judge Vance D. Day who said he will not perform same-sex marriages due to "deeply held religious beliefs."</p>

An ethics investigation has been launched regarding Marion County Circuit Judge Vance D. Day who said he will not perform same-sex marriages due to "deeply held religious beliefs."

The Oregon Supreme Court is set to consider Wednesday whether to censure, or even remove, Marion County Judge Vance Day from his post.

After an investigation last year, the state’s Judicial Fitness Commission recommended Day be removed from the bench.

Attorneys for Day and the commission will each get 30 minutes to argue before the state’s high court in Salem, which will rule at a later date.

Following its investigation, the commission said there’s evidence Day intimidated a college soccer referee and gave permission to a felon under his supervision to handle a firearm.

The commission also found Day told his employees to tell same sex couples he was unavailable to perform marriages, regardless of whether he was busy.

Day has acknowledged he’s a conservative man of faith but has denied many of the claims.

But the commission says he lied under oath.

“According to Judge Day, many people lied under oath and only he told the truth,” Tim Volpert, the attorney for the commission wrote in an April legal brief. “But as the Commission’s Opinion demonstrates, Judge Day’s testimony is contradicted in each respect by credible, third party witnesses whose recollection of events were consistent with that of other witnesses and the surrounding circumstances and who had no reason to lie under oath.”

In a legal brief, Day’s attorney, Janet Schroer, said the commission’s investigation is a “travesty of justice.”

“There is simply not space in this brief to call out all of the places where the Commission’s factual and credibility findings are incorrect or not supported by clear and convincing evidence, when the record is viewed in its entirety,” Schroer wrote.

In an interview, she said a fair review of the evidence by the state’s high court will reveal no willful violation of ethics rules.

Schroer said Day is not hearing cases but remains on the bench.

Copyright 2017 Oregon Public Broadcasting

Conrad Wilson is a reporter and producer covering criminal justice and legal affairs for OPB.