State Judge Admonished For Infringing Muslim Woman's Rights

Washington state's Commission on Judicial Conduct has reprimanded Tacoma Municipal Court Judge David Ladenburg, who ejected a Muslim woman from his court room after she refused to remove her headscarf. Yesterday's Seattle Times reports that the Commission found Ladenburg created an appearance of bias by his actions, and issued an "admonishment" to him. Ladenburg subsequently apologized to the woman. (See prior posting.) The Commission's full opinion issued on Aug. 4 says that the evidence showed no actual bias or prejudice by Ladenburg, but instead merely a mistake of law about the individual's free exercise rights. It said: "A judge's honest but mistaken application of the law does not usually result in judicial discipline. Here, however, Respondent failed to consider settled law, which resulted in a courtroom practice that infringed upon constitutional rights and created an appearance of bias. Accordingly, Respondent's actions rise to the level of sanctionable conduct." In the disciplinary proceeding, Ladenburg agreed not retaliate against anyone involved in bringing charges against him. He also agreed not to repeat his conduct, to study the judicial conduct rules and to take a course on cultural competence.