During Mahan's years as a state and federal judge, according to the Times, he approved more than $4.8 million in judgments and fees without disclosing long-standing ties with the people who benefited from the decisions.

The Judicial Council's August order indicates a complaint of judicial misconduct "was identified against a district judge." Mahan said the order does not name him, because the complaint was dismissed.

According to the order, Chief Judge Mary Schroeder of the 9th Circuit appointed a special committee to investigate the allegations in the complaint, and two lawyers were appointed to assist the committee.

"Counsel reviewed publicly available materials, including newspaper articles, court documents and hearing transcripts from relevant cases," the order states. "Counsel also obtained records from the district judge, interviewed over 30 witnesses and obtained 16 sworn affidavits."

According to the order, Mahan declined to request a hearing before the special committee, which submitted a 33-page report. The report addressed only allegations related to the judge's conduct after he joined the federal bench in early 2002.

"The special committee unanimously recommended that the Judicial Council dismiss the complaint against the district judge based on a finding that no misconduct occurred," the order states.

Based on the committee's investigation and report, according to the order, the Judicial Council concluded "that many of the alleged personal connections were not of the nature or extent alleged."

"The Judicial Council further concludes that the connections that did exist did not reasonably call into question the district judge's impartiality or ability to preside fairly over the federal cases at issue, and did not otherwise result in conduct prejudicial to the administration of the business of the federal courts."

Senior U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter Jr. of Los Angeles told the Times last year that he urged the 9th Circuit to investigate Mahan's actions. He said the newspaper's report on Mahan was a frequent topic of conversation at a conference of federal judicial councils in New Mexico.

"Several of us talked about it, and we were all appalled, frankly," Hatter told the Times. "It's such a black mark."

Hatter, a member of the 9th Circuit's Judicial Council, could not be reached for comment Wednesday on the council's decision.

The 9th Circuit is made up of nine Western states, including Nevada and California. It is based in San Francisco.

William Rempel, who co-wrote the Times series with Michael Goodman, spoke in May during a luncheon hosted by the Las Vegas Lawyers Chapter of The Federalist Society, a group of conservatives and libertarians.

Rempel said the idea for the Times' investigation of Las Vegas judges came in 2001. He said he and his colleague spent a total of about two years in Las Vegas working on the project, which cost the newspaper around $250,000.

In an interview Wednesday, Mahan said the reporters came with an agenda and "didn't even bother to do basic research."

"They wanted to attack the Las Vegas judiciary, and I was the poster boy," he said.

Contacted Wednesday, Rempel said he had not seen the Judicial Council's order. Rempel, now a special projects editor, denied that he and Goodman set out to attack the Las Vegas judiciary.

"We were out to investigate the Las Vegas judiciary," he said.

Rempel said the stories were reported thoroughly, accurately and fairly.

"What we showed was conduct that was questionable," he said. "That's why we wrote about it."

He noted that the stories have led to calls for change in Nevada's judicial system.

"I think the stories contributed to improvements that continue to be made in the judiciary of the state," he said.

Before Mahan was appointed to the federal bench by President Bush, he spent three years as a Clark County district judge. He was Clark County District Court's highest-rated jurist in the 2000 Judicial Performance Evaluation, conducted by the Review-Journal and the Clark County Bar Association. Ninety-five percent of the participating lawyers said he should be retained.

"To my knowledge, I was never investigated by the (Nevada) Judicial Discipline Commission," Mahan said.

Mahan said he has been a member of the State Bar of Nevada since 1974 and knows most of the attorneys who appear before him. He denied any conflict of interest.