Jones on June 4, 2013, after she had allegedly said that "racial groups like African-Americans and Hispanics are predisposed to crime" and are "prone to commit acts of violence" that are more "heinous" than members of other ethnic groups. According to the complaint, Jones also stated that a death sentence is a service to defendants because it allows them to make peace with God and that she "referred to her personal religious views as justification for the death penalty." Jones allegedly made the remarks during a speech to the University of Pennsylvania Federalist Society. However, the speech was not recorded, and the ethics complaint was based solely on affidavits from audience members. In part because Jones had been recently the chief judge of the Fifth Circuit, John Roberts, in his administrative capacity, transferred the complaints to the judicial ethics panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. On August 12, 2014, the judicial ethics panel of the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed the complaint by citing lack of evidence to justify disciplining Jones. The complainants appealed to the Judicial Conference of the United States, which affirmed the ruling of the judicial ethics panel in February 2015. See also George H. W. Bush Supreme Court candidates George W. Bush Supreme Court candidates References External links Comments by Edith Jones Regarding Supreme Court from University of Virginia School of Law |- 1949 births 20th-century American judges Cornell University alumni Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Lawyers from Philadelphia Living people United States court of appeals judges appointed by Ronald Reagan University of Texas School of Law alumni 20th-century American women judges