State Commission of Judicial Conduct reprimands Bexar County judge Mary Lou Alvarez

Bexar County 45th Civil District Court Judge Mary Lou Alvarez is the subject of several allegations made in a new public reprimand from the state’s judicial governing body.

The State Commission of Judicial Conduct, whose job is to promote “public confidence in the integrity, independence, competence, and impartiality of the judiciary,” released its findings Wednesday in its early April investigation into Alvarez.

Alvarez is accused of overstepping her authority in several cases, including violating the state Constitution when she ordered the Department of Family Protective Services to “submit a written offer for the placement of a child” to specific child-placing agencies.

Alvarez denied all of the commission’s allegations in a statement to KSAT on Wednesday. The public reprimand came after an appeals court reversed all or portions of more than a dozen cases she presided over.

One issue the governing body found centers around a family law case Alvarez presided over in 2022.

When one party filed two motions against opposing counsel in that case, the commission said Alvarez acted “sua sponte” — or, of her own accord — when she decided to remove opposing counsel from the case, documents show.

After the opposing counsel filed a motion to reconsider her ruling, Alvarez denied it, the reprimand states. That attorney then filed a petition to the Fourth Court of Appeals (COA), which then disqualified Alvarez’s rulings.

The commission said Alvarez complied with vacating her rulings in that family law case more than a month (July 20, 2022) beyond the Fourth COA’s designated deadline of June 22, 2022. The appeals court made its ruling on June 12 and gave Alvarez 10 days to comply with its rulings.

In written responses, the commission said Alvarez agreed with the appeals court’s decision to disqualify her rulings in the 2022 family law case. She told the commission that she “did not learn of the need to do so until after the expiration of the ten-day period.”

Records show retired Fourth Court of Appeals Justice Patricia O‘Connell Alvarez felt an “ethical obligation to report Judge Mary Lou Alvarez’s conduct, one that is a clear disregard of our Judicial Code.”

The retired justice also said Mary Lou Alvarez “continuously disregarded mandatory precedent and unduly interfered with the powers of the legislative branch.”

In all, 19 cases ruled by Alvarez were appealed. The commission’s report states that the Fourth COA “reversed a portion, if not the entire ruling, by Judge Alvarez.”

In her statement to KSAT, Mary Lou Alvarez characterized the commission’s allegations outlined in its report on her as “unfounded.”

“While I zealously defended myself against allegations that I believed to be unfounded, I respect the Commission’s right to make final decisions and issue its rulings,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez also said she decided not to appeal the commission’s findings.

“I remain committed to following the law, upholding the high standards of judicial conduct, and working diligently for the people of Bexar County,” Alvarez said. “I will continue to provide justice without exception; and I will continue to make rulings that are in the best interest of the children that are before my Court, including our most vulnerable foster children, as I am required to do by law.”

Also on Wednesday, Alvarez launched her re-election campaign for the 45th Civil District Court race.

Her current term on the bench will come to an end in 2026.

Alvarez, a Democrat, was first elected to the bench in 2018.

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