A rare disciplinary hearing opened Monday featuring lurid allegations that a California appeals court judge sexually harassed more than two dozen women he knew professionally during the past 18 years.

Justice Jeffrey Johnson groped women, touched their bare arms or inappropriately hugged them, said Emma Bradford, an examiner with the Commission on Judicial Performance, in an opening statement at the California State Bar Court in downtown Los Angeles. That included a fellow justice on the Second District Court of Appeal, Victoria Chaney, who plans to testify that Johnson groped her breasts and patted her buttocks.