In Re Emmet

*145FAULKNER, Justice.

Richard P. Emmet, a Circuit Judge of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, appeals from a decision of the Court of the Judiciary censuring him for misconduct in office.1

On December 17, 1973, Judge Emmet sent a letter to each of the judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals which he termed “extraordinary and confidential.” *146In the letter Judge Emmet outlined his reasons for setting very high bonds in the cases of three individuals who had just been indicted in cases involving fraudulent sales of machine parts to the State of Alabama Highway Department. Judge Emmet expressed hope that…