Georgia Panel Urges Removal of Probate Judge Over Years of Delayed Rulings

By Tyler Brooks 

A disciplinary panel in Georgia has recommended removing a Chatham County probate judge from office, concluding that prolonged delays in issuing court rulings amounted to a sustained pattern of misconduct that undermined public confidence in the judicial system.

In a detailed report filed in late December, a three-member hearing panel of Georgia’s Judicial Qualifications Commission said Probate Judge Thomas C. Bordeaux Jr. routinely delayed decisions for months and, in some cases, years, even after receiving repeated warnings from judicial oversight officials.

The 69-page report acknowledged that Judge Bordeaux took office in 2017 inheriting what it described as a deeply troubled court, including a significant backlog of weapons-carry license applications. Witnesses likened the court at the time to “a bus running on two wheels.” The panel noted that Bordeaux initially took steps to address those issues, including hiring new staff and appointing Wendy Williamson as chief clerk. 

Williamson, who later became an associate probate judge, led an effort to digitize court records and raised concerns early about the judge’s failure to issue timely rulings. According to the panel, she created tracking tools in 2019 to highlight unresolved matters and later helped implement weekly hearing schedules and order-monitoring systems.

Despite those efforts, the panel found that delays persisted. In July 2021, Bordeaux was notified that he was under investigation for judicial misconduct related to several weapons-carry cases and a delayed ruling. While that complaint was later dismissed, it involved alleged violations of Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 2.2, which requires judges to resolve matters “fairly, promptly, and efficiently.” The panel said Bordeaux has since acknowledged violating that rule in 16 separate cases.

The report said Bordeaux hired a staff attorney in 2021 to assist with drafting orders but “was largely unwilling to allow that lawyer to assist him with preparing orders in any meaningful way.” It added that even after being given lists of overdue rulings, the judge failed to bring cases up to date.

A statewide transition to a new case management system in 2022 also did not improve the situation, the panel said, nor did suggestions that Bordeaux use form orders, rely more heavily on staff, or request proposed findings from attorneys.

Several cases cited in the report involved extraordinary delays. One estate matter remained unresolved for more than seven years, while other estate cases took more than three and four years to conclude. The panel said these delays imposed avoidable “emotional and financial costs” on the affected parties.

In 2024, the JQC director sent Bordeaux two separate notices regarding unresolved cases. According to the panel, he still failed to rule even after formal charges were filed in October.

“Between February 6, 2024, and October 3, 2024 — nearly eight months — after two letters and the filing of formal charges, he still had failed to rule,” the panel wrote. “Under these circumstances, we have no difficulty finding by clear and convincing evidence that Judge Bordeaux acted in bad faith by blatantly failing to rule in response to the notices from the director.”

The panel said the judge’s conduct sent a damaging message to the judiciary that ethical rules were “merely suggestions or requests” rather than binding obligations, adding that his actions brought the judicial office “into disrepute.”

It also concluded that Bordeaux showed persistent resistance to procedural and technological changes and that there was “little basis” to believe a suspension would prevent future misconduct.

“It is truly unfortunate that we find ourselves here,” the panel wrote. “But what are we to do with a judge who simply will not rule, even after receiving repeated notices from the body that regulates his conduct? … Because of his own actions and, more rightly, in actions, we find that Judge Bordeaux has forfeited that privilege.”

Panel member Richard L. Hyde issued a separate concurrence, agreeing with the removal recommendation but warning of a broader problem within the state judiciary.

“Judge Bordeaux is not alone,” Hyde wrote, describing judicial delay as “by far the most common complaint” he has heard from Georgia lawyers over the past 25 years. He suggested that lower courts consider mandatory ruling deadlines similar to those imposed on the Georgia Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.

The matter now moves to the Georgia Supreme Court, which will make the final decision on whether Bordeaux remains on the bench. The recommendation follows a three-day evidentiary hearing held in August.

Representatives for the parties did not respond to requests for comment.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission is represented by Courtney Veal. Judge Bordeaux is represented by S. Lester Tate III of Akin & Tate and W. Matthew Wilson of Bell Wilson Law LLC.

The case is In re: Inquiry Concerning Judge Thomas C. Bordeaux Jr., case number 2023-1082, before the Judicial Qualifications Commission of the State of Georgia. 

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Georgia Panel Urges Removal of Probate Judge Over Years of Delayed Rulings 

Socially Isolated People Have Differently Wired Brains and Poorer Cognition

Summary: Social isolation is linked to alterations in brain structure and cognitive deficits. Additionally, social isolation can increase the risk of developing dementia as a person ages.

Source: The Conversation

Why do we get a buzz from being in large groups at festivals, jubilees and other public events? According to the social brain hypothesis, it’s because the human brain specifically evolved to support social interactions. Studies have shown that belonging to a group can lead to improved wellbeing and increased satisfaction with life.

People who are isolated from others do worse on cognitive tests. Image is in the public domain

Unfortunately though, many people are lonely or socially isolated. And if the human brain really did evolve for social interaction, we should expect this to affect it significantly. Our recent study, published in Neurology, shows that social isolation is linked to changes in brain structure and cognition – the mental process of acquiring knowledge – it even carries an increased risk of dementia in older adults.

There’s already a lot of evidence in support of the social brain hypothesis. One study mapped the brain regions associated with social interaction in approximately 7,000 people.

It showed that brain regions consistently involved in diverse social interactions are strongly linked to networks that support cognition, including the default mode network (which is active when we are not focusing on the outside world), the salience network (which helps us select what we pay attention to), the subcortical network (involved in memory, emotion and motivation) and the central executive network (which enables us to regulate our emotions).

We wanted to look more closely at how social isolation affects grey matter – brain regions in the outer layer of the brain, consisting of neurons. We, therefore, investigated data from nearly 500,000 people from the UK Biobank, with a mean age of 57. People were classified as socially isolated if they were living alone, had social contact less than monthly and participated in social activities less than weekly.

Our study also included neuroimaging (MRI) data from approximately 32,000 people. This showed that socially isolated people had poorer cognition, including in memory and reaction time, and lower volume of grey matter in many parts of the brain.

These areas included the temporal region (which processes sounds and helps encode memory), the frontal lobe (which is involved in attention, planning and complex cognitive tasks) and the hippocampus – a key area involved in learning and memory, which is typically disrupted early in Alzheimer’s disease.

We also found a link between the lower grey matter volumes and specific genetic processes that are involved in Alzheimer’s disease.

There were follow-ups with participants 12 years later. This showed that those who were socially isolated, but not lonely, had a 26% increased risk of dementia.

Underlying processes

Social isolation needs to be examined in more detail in future studies to determine the exact mechanisms behind its profound effects on our brains. But it is clear that, if you are isolated, you may be suffering from chronic stress. This in turn has a major impact on your brain, and also on your physical health.

Another factor may be that if we don’t use certain brain areas, we lose some of their function. A study with taxi drivers showed that the more they memorised routes and addresses, the more the volume of the hippocampus increased. It is possible that if we don’t regularly engage in social discussion, for example, our use of language and other cognitive processes, such as attention and memory, will diminish.

This may affect our ability to do many complex cognitive tasks – memory and attention are crucial to complex cognitive thinking in general.

Tackling loneliness

We know that a strong set of thinking abilities throughout life, called “cognitive reserve”, can be built up through keeping your brain active. A good way to do this is by learning new things, such as another language or a musical instrument.

Cognitive reserve has been shown to ameliorate the course and severity of aging. For example, it can protect against a number of illnesses or mental health disorders, including forms of dementia, schizophrenia and depression, especially following traumatic brain injury.

There are also lifestyle elements that can improve your cognition and wellbeing, which include a healthy diet and exercise. For Alzheimer’s disease, there are a few pharmacological treatments, but the efficacy of these need to be improved and side effects need to be reduced.

There is hope that in the future there will be better treatments for aging and dementia. One avenue of inquiry in this regard is exogenous ketones – an alternative energy source to glucose – which can be ingested via nutritional supplements.

But as our study shows, tackling social isolation could also help, particularly in old age. Health authorities should do more to check on who is isolated and arrange social activities to help them.

When people are not in a position to interact in person, technology may provide a substitute. However, this may be more applicable to younger generations who are familiar with using technology to communicate. But with training, it may also be effective in reducing social isolation in older adults.

Social interaction is hugely important. One study found that the size of our social group is actually associated with the volume of the orbitofrontal cortex (involved in social cognition and emotion).

But how many friends do we need? Researchers often refer to “Dunbar’s number” to describe the size of social groups, finding that we are not able to maintain more than 150 relationships and only typically manage five close relationships.

However, there are some reports which suggest a lack of empirical evidence surrounding Dunbar’s number and further research into the optimal size of social groups is required.

It is hard to argue with the fact that humans are social animals and gain enjoyment from connecting with others, whatever age we are. But, as we are increasingly uncovering, it also crucial for the health of our cognition.

About this social isolation research news

Authors: Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, Christelle Langley, Chun Shen, and Jianfeng Feng
Source: The Conversation
Contact: Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, Christelle Langley, Chun Shen, and Jianfeng Feng – The Conversation
Image: The image is in the public domain

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Socially Isolated People Have Differently Wired Brains and Poorer Cognition