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Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

chancery
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Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#1

Post by chancery »


This is a fascinating and deeply researched history of Rosenberger v. Rectors and Visitors of the University of Virginia, decided in 1995. @Rachael_e_Jones is the first, to my knowledge, to make use of archival papers related to the case. She has some finds that will be of interest to legal historians, church/state scholars, and those interested in @UVA history.
:snippity:
On Nov. 9, 1989, Justice Scalia wrote to Robert O'Neil, then president of @UVA, who had invited the justice to receive the Thomas Jefferson Award, UVA's highest honor. In his letter, Justice Scalia criticized UVA for rejecting admission of three of his children.
While I expected no special consideration because of my years on the faculty of UVa, I did expect my children to be evaluated fairly and carefully on their merits. I believe two of them were treated either with intentional disfavor or with gross neglect.
He concluded by saying: "I will not accept the Jefferson Award, or anything else, from the University of Virginia. Not now. Not ever."
Scalia joined the 5-4 majority that ruled against UVa in Rosenberger.
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#2

Post by tek »

Don't know if 'Rightwing' but...
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge has overturned California’s three-decade-old ban on assault weapons, calling it a “failed experiment” that violates people's constitutional right to bear arms.

[...]

In his 94-page ruling, the judge spoke favorably of modern weapons and said they were overwhelmingly used for legal reasons.

“Like the Swiss Army knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment. Good for both home and battle," the judge said in his ruling's introduction.
https://news.yahoo.com/u-judge-overturn ... 00825.html
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#3

Post by Frater I*I »

tek wrote: Sat Jun 05, 2021 4:21 pm Don't know if 'Rightwing' but...
Bush II appointee, 2 years ago struck down the state's high capacity mag ban, that is being appealed...

So yeah, I'd go rightwing...
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#4

Post by bob »



The repeached Florida Man nominated VanDyke to the 9th, and ABA rated him "not qualified," in part due to ... his poor temperament.

(He's also the nominee who cried at his confirmation hearing.)
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#5

Post by KickahaOta »

bob wrote: Wed Aug 18, 2021 4:06 pm The repeached Florida Man nominated VanDyke to the 9th, and ABA rated him "not qualified," in part due to ... his poor temperament.

(He's also the nominee who cried at his confirmation hearing.)
After reading this whole dissent, I'm left with the feeling of "This person doesn't have the temperament to be on the bench; this is written in a very unproductive manner; and it may very well be correct on the merits."

The Ninth Circuit's handling of precedent and en banc rehearing have always struck me as looser than other circuits.
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#6

Post by bob »

KickahaOta wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:02 pmAfter reading this whole dissent, I'm left with the feeling of "This person doesn't have the temperament to be on the bench; this is written in a very unproductive manner; and it may very well be correct on the merits."
Yup. The judge basically won this battle, and still felt the need for a smug victory lap.
The Ninth Circuit's handling of precedent and en banc rehearing have always struck me as looser than other circuits.
Not really/not significantly more so than (some) other circuits.

Having said that, the 9th has (or, perhaps more accurately, had) some very "principled" liberals with profound disagreements with some federal laws. I have no doubt they based their beliefs on "upholding the Constitution."
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#7

Post by northland10 »

bob wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:42 pm Having said that, the 9th has (or, perhaps more accurately, had) some very "principled" liberals with profound disagreements with some federal laws. I have no doubt they based their beliefs on "upholding the Constitution."
:fingerwag:

Liberals/Leftist/Commie/Socialist/Marxist/Metric using/Fascist/Nazi/Tree lovers/mayo lovers/quiche eaters who have profound disagreements with some federal laws hate America and are working with the evil deep state to destroy it. Those on the right who disagree are "upholding the Constitution."

Since the left hates America and the Constitution, the Constitution does not apply to them. It's a simple concept. You still don't get it?
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#8

Post by KickahaOta »

Just to clarify: I would be very happy if federal habeas relief was much easier to get, and I would be more than fine if the previous grant of habeas relief was upheld. Which means that, yes, I find Judge VanDyke's "victory lap" on the denial of habeas relief to be both in poor taste and unconvincing. The part where I found myself thinking "he's an asshole but he may very well be a correct asshole" is the discussion of 'dicta'.

Quick summary of what 'dicta' means in federal courts: In a precedential opinion, the actual holding of the opinion is always considered to be precedent. But how much of the text of the opinion is actually precedential as well (meaning that future panels in that circuit need to go along with what the text says)? To give an extreme example, can a panel issuing a precedential opinion in a First Amendment case drop in pearls of legal wisdom about the Second Amendment and have those be precedent as well? The answer is no. The parts of a precedential opinion that don't actually matter to the outcome of the case are normally considered to be 'dicta' -- they aren't precedential, though they may be persuasive. Future panels can choose to ignore them. But obviously, real-world examples are nowhere near this easy to call; a lot of language in a precedential opinion can often be described as 'relevant to the way the panel handled the issue posed by the case, but not crucial to the outcome of that particular case'. Is that language dicta as well? The answer is often very unclear. And it's the future panel that decides whether the language of the earlier opinion is dicta or not. So a future judge's answer to that question can sometimes be (consciously or subconsciously) outcome-motivated. If Judge A thinks that a previous opinion was right, and Judge B thinks that opinion was wrong, they will probably have rather different thoughts about how much of that opinion was dicta.

In this case, the original three-judge panel (in a 2-1 vote) granted relief to the prisoner, using legal logic that Judge VanDyke (rightly or wrongly) thought was really bad. A number of other judges in the circuit also thought that the original opinion was bad -- enough of them that they voted to have the case reheard en banc (in other words, by a much larger group of circuit judges). The three-judge panel then said 'fine, we'll take another crack at it ourselves,' and issued a new precedential opinion -- with the same 2-1 vote -- that denied relief. But they arguably did so in a way that said 'The great majority of our previous logic was correct. It's just this very case-specific fact that changes the outcome'. There was another vote to take the case en banc, but it failed. Judge VanDyke (who wasn't on the panel that issued the opinion, and who wanted to take the case en banc) is basically making these points, in a quite inflammatory way:
  • 'The great majority of your opinion is no longer essential to the outcome.' (Is that true? I'd say that it's at least partially true.)
  • 'You're just leaving all that stuff in to try to force future panels to follow it.' (Is that true? I obviously don't know.)
  • 'The way our circuit handles dicta means that this may very well work.' (Is that true, and is it really so different than other circuits? This is what I was really curious about.)
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#9

Post by Volkonski »

Don't know if he was right wing or not.

“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#10

Post by sugar magnolia »

Newell, a Republican, has been Caroline County's only Circuit Court judge, earning $174,433 annually. The county, population 33,000, also has an appointed family magistrate judge, and civil case examiners. Judges from other jurisdictions have been filling in to hear Newell's docket, the judiciary has said.
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#11

Post by MsDaisy »

Court rules Alabama judge accused of racist, sexist remarks must be removed from office
A complaint accuses Probate Judge Randy Jinks of speaking disparagingly of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, and sharing a video of a woman doing a striptease.

An Alabama probate judge accused of making racist and sexist remarks and fostering a hostile work environment must be removed from office, a state judicial ethics court said Friday in a rare and unanimous ruling.

In sanctioning Probate Judge Randy Jinks of Talladega County, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary wrote that he had violated several of the state's Canons of Judicial Ethics, guidelines directing judges to uphold the honor of the judiciary, maintain decorum and avoid impropriety.

The decision to discipline Jinks, 65, comes after a multiday hearing this month that included witness testimony, as well as character witnesses called by Jinks' defense lawyer, including former Alabama Gov. Bob Riley. Among the evidence presented to the court was a recording of Jinks repeating a meme in his office about the nationwide racial unrest in 2020 in which he said, "You sons of b------ are going to need something to burn down after Trump gets re-elected for a second term, sons of b------."

"Although the complaint alleges 'racially insensitive demeanor,' this Court is of the opinion that Judge Jinks' conduct rose above racial insensitivity," the court said in its final judgment, which also ordered Jinks to pay for the costs of the proceeding.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/co ... e-n1282750
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#12

Post by filly »

That's good they got him out. I think many people don't realize that Probate Judges have a lot of power. They preside over guardianship and conservatorship proceedings and can totally control someone's life.
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#13

Post by Patagoniagirl »

I'm guessing this judge is RW.

"An Ohio judge has been suspended for a year for ordering a court spectator to take a drug test and sentencing her to jail when she refused."

The Ohio Supreme Court suspended Judge Mark Edward Repp of the Tiffin-Fostoria Municipal Court in a Nov. 9 opinion.


https://www.abajournal.com/news/article ... vMUDxWCtyU
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

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Post by RTH10260 »

ninjaded - same
Tiffin judge suspended for forcing court spectator to get drug test

By Shaun Hegarty
Published: Nov. 10, 2021 at 4:50 AM CET

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Ohio’s highest court is holding a local judge accountable for his behavior.

A Tiffin judge sent a woman to the Seneca County jail for refusing to take a drug test, despite the fact she was not on trial and not causing any kind of disruption. Now Judge Mark Repp must serve a one-year unpaid suspension for his actions.

Alexzandria Orta was in the Tiffin-Fostoria Municipal courtroom last year to observe a drug court hearing for her boyfriend, Trevor. Judge Repp addressed her while he was hearing other cases and asked her to take a drug test. When she refused, the judge held her in contempt and put her in handcuffs.

“I figured he couldn’t do it so I wasn’t going to take it, but I was scared to leave there because I didn’t want to get in trouble if I left,” said Orta.

When Orta refused to take the drug test, the bailiff brought her back to Repp’s courtroom, where he found her guilty of contempt and sentenced her to 10 days in prison or until she submitted to the drug test.

To complicate things further, her two children were in the car outside the courthouse with their grandparents.

A.O. told a correctional officer she would take the drug test. The officer replied that she could not and that she already “had her chance.”

The next day she appeared in front of Judge Repp and even the prosecutors asked to dismiss the contempt charge. Seneca County Prosecuting Attorney Derek DeVine said he was unaware of any legal authority that would permit the judge to hold a courtroom spectator in contempt for refusing a drug test, according to a press release from the Ohio Supreme Court. Judge Repp offered no legal authority to support his conduct but stated he had a right to control his courtroom.

The state Board of Professional Conduct charged Judge Repp with ethical violations and now the Ohio Supreme Court has upheld Repp’s one-year unpaid suspension.


https://www.13abc.com/2021/11/10/tiffin ... drug-test/
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#16

Post by raison de arizona »

I dunno if she is right wing, but she is definitely crazy! Or just heavy into amphetamines.
:snippity:
Blocton, who became a judge in 2017 and later swore in Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, allegedly used Facebook aliases to communicate with, and threaten, people who had cases before her.

She was alleged to have made members of her staff work extraordinarily long hours and take Phentermine – a diet pill – to “pep” them up after having worked late the night before.

The complaint alleged Blocton used and been under the influence of prescription pills in her chambers including, but not limited to, Phentermine.

“These pills created behavioral changes in Judge Blocton while she was performing her judicial duties, including but not limited to, becoming hyper-talkative and hyper-somnolent (when person experiences significant episodes of sleepiness) in chambers and on the bench, exhibiting paranoid behavior, such as talking in circles about the same topic for hours and expressing a belief that the commission or someone at its direction is ‘going to kill her.’’'
https://www.al.com/news/2021/12/nakita- ... bench.html
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#17

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1 ... a-sedative
Judge wants ‘forgiveness and understanding’ after she’s caught on video calling suspect N-word

Last weekend a Lafayette City Court judge and her family were the victims of a car burglary at their home. Police were called and the suspect was arrested. But, of course, that wasn’t the end of it.

Days later, Judge Michelle Odinet and her four children were captured on cellphone video watching security footage of the moment the suspected burglar was apprehended. And oh boy, did that family enjoy watching it. They whooped and hollered as they joyfully commented on the home surveillance video, calling the suspect, a Black man, a “roach” and using the N-word repeatedly.

“We have a n---—. It’s a n-----, like a roach,” a female’s voice can be heard saying while laughing.

Now Odinet is asking for “forgiveness and understanding.”

“My children and I were the victim [sic] of an armed burglary at our home. The police were called and the assailant was arrested. The incident shook me to my core and my mental state was fragile,” Odinet said in a statement Monday, The Acadiana Advocate reports.

According to the Daily Beast, the Lafayette Police Department confirmed to local media that an attempted burglary of a vehicle took place at Odinet’s home at around 2 a.m. Saturday.

But Lafayette Police Sgt. Paul Mouton told KLFY that the suspect—identified as Ronald Handy—did not have a weapon with him at the time of his arrest despite the fact that Courthouse Karen described the incident to police as an “armed burglary.”
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#18

Post by raison de arizona »

“We have a n---—. It’s a n-----, like a roach,” a female’s voice can be heard saying while laughing.

Now Odinet is asking for “forgiveness and understanding.”
Yeah, there isn't room for tolerance and understanding of that, especially on the bench.
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#19

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

We will forgive and we fully understand that you shouldn't keep this job, judge.
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#20

Post by raison de arizona »

raison de arizona wrote: Thu Dec 16, 2021 4:38 pm
“We have a n---—. It’s a n-----, like a roach,” a female’s voice can be heard saying while laughing.

Now Odinet is asking for “forgiveness and understanding.”
Yeah, there isn't room for tolerance and understanding of that, especially on the bench.
Suspended.
A Louisiana judge is on unpaid leave and facing pressure to resign after a home video with racist language surfaced
:snippity:
Odinet had earlier sent a statement to CNN affiliate KATC, saying she had been "given a sedative" and had no "recollection of the video and the disturbing language used during it."
:snippity:
Odinet was temporarily disqualified Thursday after her lawyer filed a motion on her behalf, which was agreed to by the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana. The state Supreme Court ordered her disqualification and appointed retired Opelousas City Court Judge Vanessa Harris to fill her seat for now.

Ciolino added Odinet has "heard the calls from the Governor and the community and resignation is certainly at the top of her list of considerations."
:snippity:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/16/us/louis ... index.html
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#21

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

:bunny: :groupdance: :blissy:
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#22

Post by raison de arizona »

Resigned.
Lafayette Judge Michelle Odinet resigns after racial slurs caught on video: 'I am sorry'

Disgraced and suspended Lafayette judge Michelle Odinet stepped down from the bench Friday, saying the racial slurs she used to describe burglars outside her home were "hurtful words" and undermined the public's confidence in the judicial system.

Odinet was captured on video using the n-word to describe men breaking into vehicles parked outside her home. She initially was mum on who used the language, but later acknowledged it was her.

The Louisiana Supreme Court had temporarily disqualified Odinet, at her request, two weeks ago and appointed a Black judge from Opelousas, Vanessa Harris, to handle cases in Division A of the Lafayette City Court, through Feb. 28.
:snippity:
https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/ne ... 859e4.html
Resignation letter: https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnew ... ba.pdf.pdf
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#23

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

:cheer2: :cheer1: :blissy: :blissy: :bunny:

My favorite part of the article:
The Louisiana Supreme Court had temporarily disqualified Odinet, at her request, two weeks ago and appointed a Black judge from Opelousas, Vanessa Harris, to handle cases in Division A of the Lafayette City Court, through Feb. 28.
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#24

Post by RTH10260 »

didn't we once have a simple Judges Behaving Badly thread?
Judge Resigns Over Racist Home Video Capturing N-Word Use
Paige Lavender
Fri, December 31, 2021, 5:33 PM·

Lafayette City Court Judge Michelle Odinet resigned Friday, weeks after a video surfaced that depicted her using racist remarks as she and her family watched security footage of an attempted burglary at their home.

“I take full responsibility for the hurtful words used to describe the individual who burglarized the vehicles at my home. I am sorry for the pain that I have caused my community and ask for your forgiveness, as my words did not foster the public’s confidence and integrity for the judiciary,” Odinet said in a letter submitted to the Louisiana Supreme Court filed by her attorney Dane Ciolino.

Ciolino told HuffPost Odinet “understands that this is the end of her public service, but only the beginning of what she must to do to earn the forgiveness of the community.”

Odinet confirmed the video, published by The Current on Dec. 13, was shot in her home. It depicts a television showing security footage of a burglary as several voices laugh and recap the incident while repeatedly using the N-word. Ciolino told The New York Times Odinet was one of the voices heard using a slur in the video.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/judge-resign ... 25877.html
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Re: Rightwing Judges Behaving Badly

#25

Post by Foggy »

Off Topic
RTH10260 wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 2:11 pm didn't we once have a simple Judges Behaving Badly thread?
No, we only had a Judges' Smackdowns thread.

Hint: FOR A GOOD TIME, CALL SEARCH using the Advanced Search function as follows:

Search for keywords: "Behaving"

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We have, by my count, eleven different "behaving badly" threads and two or three "behaving well" threads. We're, umm ... behaving rather strangely on occasion ... :lol:
Out from under. :thumbsup:
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