About ReviewTheBench
Where the records come from, how they are checked, and who runs the site.
What this is
ReviewTheBench is a free public directory of more than 25,000 U.S. judges. Each judge has a page with a record, the official sources it came from, and reviews written by signed-in readers. Anyone can read without an account.
The site is not a court or a government site, and it does not speak for any court, the Federal Judicial Center or the Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review. Nothing here is legal advice. Reviews are the opinions of the people who wrote them, not of ReviewTheBench.
Where the records come from
Official sources only. Each judge’s page lists the addresses its record came from.
- Federal district and circuit judges: the Federal Judicial Center’s biographical directory of Article III judges.
- Federal magistrate and bankruptcy judges: the courts’ own websites.
- State and local judges: the state court system’s own roster or directory, or another government publication such as a state’s official manual.
- Arizona: the Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review publishes findings on judges standing for retention. The site shows each one as the commission published it, labelled as the commission’s finding, with a link to its report. It is not a rating and is never combined with reviews.
- Judges on the ballot: the official lists published by state election offices for the November 3, 2026 retention elections, in the states collected so far. See judges on the ballot.
How a record is checked
A judge read from an official roster is marked as listed in that source when the record is added, and the page names the source. This means the record lists an official source. It does not mean a person compared every fact. Records are loaded when an import is run by hand, there is no fixed update schedule, and a record can be out of date, so the source linked on the page is the place to confirm it.
What the site does not do
- It makes no editorial claim about any judge, does not endorse or oppose any judge, and does not say how to vote.
- It does not claim to be complete: some courts and some states’ lists are not included yet.
- It claims no partnership with, or endorsement by, any court or agency.
How reviews work
Reading needs no account. Writing needs a signed-in account, with one review per judge per account. Reviews show an anonymous handle; the email address is never shown. Ratings are shown separately for attorneys and for parties, each with the number of reviews behind it, and only once a group has at least three reviews. A reviewer’s role is what the reviewer says it is.
A review is published at once unless an automatic check holds it for the site owner to read. The owner can take down any review. The check is a first pass and can hold a fine review or miss a problem one. See Policies.
Corrections and removal
Every review has a link to report it or request its removal; no account is needed. To suggest a judge who is missing, use Request a judge. For anything else, write to contact@reviewthebench.com.
Who runs it
ReviewTheBench is run by its owner. To reach a person, write to contact@reviewthebench.com.
Last updated October 15, 2026.