The commission was created to provide a fair disciplinary system to review complaints of judicial misconduct without encroachment on the principle of judicial independence. If the commission determines that disciplinary action is warranted, it may render a determination to impose one of four sanctions, subject to review by the court of appeals upon timely request by the respondent-judge: admonish a judge publicly, censure a judge publicly, remove a judge from office, or retire a judge for disability. The commission may also issue a confidential letter of dismissal and caution to a judge, despite a dismissal of the complaint, when it is determined that circumstances warrant such comment. In 1980, 692 complaints were received and of these, 546 were dismissed upon initial review. Among the complaints were 34 initiated by the commission on its own motion. Of the combined total of 360 investigations and formal proceedings conducted by the commission in 1980 (214 continued from 1979 and 146 authorized in 1980), the commission considered and dismissed outright 97 complaints after investigations were completed. Investigation of 57 complaints resulted in a sanction, 39 resulted in a cautionary reminder to the judge, and 7 were closed upon resignation of the judge from office. A total of 149 investigations were pending at the end of the year. Tables, texts of determinations rendered in 1980 for certain cases, and other information are appended.