A Cook County judge running for retention next month is under investigation by the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board for her interactions with an attorney in eviction cases last year at the Markham Courthouse, Injustice Watch has learned.

The investigation into Judge Ieshia Gray comes after she repeatedly denied the attorney’s routine requests for his cases to be heard by a new judge and then ultimately issued a lengthy order recusing herself from his cases while bashing him as “unprofessional and abrasive,” saying he “appears trapped in a time continuum,” and accusing him of “borderline” defamation.

Judicial Inquiry Board investigations are rare. Last year, the board investigated just 64 of the 527 complaints it received against judges and judicial candidates statewide. The vast majority of investigations end without discipline. By law, the board doesn’t disclose information about its investigations, so it’s unclear where the inquiry into Gray’s conduct stands. Gray did not respond to multiple interview requests.

Gray isn’t the only judge running for retention this year who is currently the subject of a JIB complaint. Judge Kathy Flanagan was referred to the JIB in June by Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans after a lawyer from a top law firm was handcuffed to a chair in her courtroom, though it’s not clear whether the board has opened an investigation into the complaint.