IN RE ABRAMS
257 P.3d 167 (2011)
In the Matter of Honorable Theodore ABRAMS Tucson Municipal Court Pima County, State of Arizona, Respondent.
No. JC-11-0001.
Supreme Court of Arizona, En Banc.
August 4, 2011.
Commission on Judicial Conduct by Jennifer M. Perkins, Phoenix, Attorney for Commission on Judicial Conduct.
State Bar of Arizona by Maret Vessella, Chief Bar Counsel, Shauna R. Miller, Senior Bar Counsel, Phoenix, Attorneys for State Bar of Arizona.
OPINIONPELANDER, Justice.
¶ 1 On May 25, 2011, we entered an order censuring Theodore Abrams for violating the Code of Judicial Conduct, permanently enjoining him from serving as a judicial officer in Arizona, and suspending him from the practice of law for two years, with an opinion to follow. This is that opinion.
¶ 2 Abrams was admitted to the Arizona bar in 1990. He was appointed as a Tucson City Court Magistrate in 2002. In December 2010, the Commission on Judicial Conduct ("Commission") brought formal disciplinary charges against Abrams based on allegations of sexual harassment. In January 2011, Abrams and the Commission entered into a Stipulated Resolution in which he "acknowledge[d] that his conduct warrants removal from the bench" and agreed to the imposition of a censure and to resign his judicial position and never again seek or hold judicial office.
¶ 3 We granted sua sponte review of the Commission's recommendation that we approve the Stipulated Resolution. Pursuant to Arizona Supreme Court Rule 46(d), we invited Abrams and the State Bar to submit briefs on whether attorney discipline should be imposed and, if so, the appropriate sanction. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6.1, Section 4 of the Arizona Constitution, Arizona Supreme Court Rule 46(d), and Commission Rule 29.
I. Facts¶ 4 In June 2008, Abrams began an intimate, consensual relationship with a lawyer ("Attorney A") whose private practice included criminal defense work. They engaged in sexual contact for several months and maintained a close personal relationship through April 2009. During and after the affair, Attorney A appeared often in cases before Abrams, who neither disqualified himself nor disclosed the relationship to the parties or other counsel.
1. Attorney A also introduced Abrams to an assistant prosecutor ("Attorney C") in February 2009. Abrams contacted Attorney C at work to request her personal email address and subsequently sent her sexually explicit emails. Although Attorney C appeared before Abrams a few times, she did not appear before him after February 2009.
2. For purposes of Rule 46(d), the "record" includes "all documents filed in a case involving formal [judicial disciplinary] proceedings." Ariz. R. Comm'n on Jud. Conduct, Terminology. Contrary to Abrams' contention, that record is not limited to the Stipulated Resolution. Rather, under the Commission's rules, the record includes all items presented to the Commission and later transmitted to this Court (including the City of Tucson's sexual harassment complaint, the memoranda prepared by the Pima County Superior Court's investigator and presiding judge, and the compact disc that contains voicemail messages left by Abrams on Attorney B's cellular phone). In contrast, on the State Bar's motion, this Court previously struck a declaration by Abrams' wife, which was attached to a filing by Abrams in this Court, because it was not before the Commission, filed in the judicial disciplinary proceeding, or otherwise part of the record.