Judge Reprimanded For Questioning Defendant Over Religious Head Covering

In In re Ladenburg, (WA Commn. on Judicial Conduct, Feb. 20, 2015), the Washington Commission on Judicial Conduct in a consent order reprimanded municipal court judge David Ladenburg for challenging a criminal defendant wearing a fedora in the courtroom for religious reasons. The facts, as stipulated by the parties, showed that the judge told the defendant who said the hat was worn as part of his Jewish belief that he must bring evidence supporting his decision to wear that particular kind of head covering.  The judge threatened otherwise to have it removed.  In defense of his actions, the judge said he was unfamiliar with wearing of a fedora instead of a yarmulke. In 2006, the same judge had been issued an admonishment by the Commission for requiring a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf for religious reasons to remove it or leave his court room. (See prior posting.) The Tacoma News Tribune reports on yesterday's Commission action.

6th Cirucit Upholds Damage Award To Critic of Judge For Expressing Religious Views

In Pucci v. Nineteenth District Court, (6th Cir., Feb. 13, 2015), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the $734,000 damage award to court employee Julie Pucci who was fired after she complained to the Michigan State Court Administrative Office about Judge Mark W. Somers' expressing of religious views in the course of performing his judicial duties. It also affirmed the award of over $416,.000 in attorneys' fees. The court upheld the jury's findings that in complaining to SCAO, Pucci was speaking as a citizen on a matter of public concern. (See prior related posting.)

California Judicial Ethics Code Changed To Bar Judges From Membership In Boy Scouts

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, on Wednesday, the California Supreme Court approved a recommendation of an ethics advisory committee to strengthen the prohibition in California Code of Judicial Ethics, Sec. 2.C. that prohibits judges from holding membership in any organization that discriminates on the basis of race, sex, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Previous exceptions for membership in military organizations or nonprofit youth organizations (such as the Boy Scouts) were eliminated in the recently approved change. However an exception for membership in discriminatory religious organizations remains in the Code. Here is the full text of the ethics code as amended.

Florida Supreme Court Removes Trial Judge For Promoting Her Faith-Based Business From Courtroom

In Re: Judith Hawkins, (FL Sup. Ct., Oct. 30, 2014), the Florida Supreme Court, imposing a harsher penalty than recommended by a Hearing Panel (see prior posting), removed a Florida trial court judge from the bench. One of the major charges against Judge Hawkins was that she used her judicial office to promote her business, Gaza Road Ministries, and her book based on Biblical stories. She sold her Gaza Road Ministry products to lawyers appearing before her, promoted the products online wearing her judicial robes, and used her judicial assistant to promote and produce the products. She also failed to pay state sales tax on the sale of her books and failed to register her business.  AP reports on the court's decision.

Judge's Religious References In Sentencing Did Not Prejudice Defendant

In State of North Carolina v. Earls, (NC App., June 3, 2014), a North Carolina appellate court held that a defendant who was convicted on charges of rape, incest and taking indecent liberties with a child was not prejudiced by the trial judge's references to the Bible and divine judgment in sentencing him to 45 to 55 years in prison. [Thanks to Alliance Alert for the lead.]

Top South African Judges Speak At Law and Religion Conference

IOL News and Ecumenical News report on a controversial speech by South Africa's Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng at the University of Stellenbosch's second Annual African Law and Religion conference earlier this week. According to IOL:

Mogoeng decried the levels of maladministration, crime and corruption, and “the extremely low levels to which morality has degenerated… the dishonesty as well as the injustices that have permeated all facets of society - price-fixing and fronting included”.

These, he argued, “in my view would effectively be turned around significantly if religion were to be factored into the law-making process”.

Here is a video of his entire speech. Mogeng, a lay preacher in the Pentecostal Winners' Chapel, has been controversial since his appointment in 2011. (See prior posting.)

Former South African Constitutional Court Judge Albie Sachs also spoke at the Conference, emphasizing the need for different worldviews to co-exist.  Here is a video of his full speech.

Judge Calabresi Interviewed On Establishment Clause

Religion & Politics yesterday published an interview with Guido Calabresi, senior judge on the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals and former dean of Yale Law School, on his views of the Establishment Clause. Judge Calabresi authored the 2nd Circuit's opinion in Galloway v. Town of Greece, the legislative prayer case (see prior posting) that was argued this term and is awaiting decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.  Describing the 2nd Circuit's opinion, Calabresi said:

We took the position that a non-sectarian prayer is either a contradiction in terms or is an establishment. It is an establishment of the “okay” religions. Of “what we are all agreed on.” What we wanted to do was to find a way of allowing people to pray without having a town define itself as Christian—which was the claim about this case. But, keep in mind that, in our circuit, we also have Kiryas Joel, a town that wants to define itself as Satmar, a particular sect of the Jewish faith. In other words, we have many forms of the desire for self-definition, of the desire to say, in religious terms, “We are something.” What we came up with was the notion that a town can do anything it wants so long as it is open to every religion and non-religion.

Judicial Conduct Board Convicts Magistrate For Insisting On Child's Name Change

Reuters reports that yesterday a 6-person panel of the Tennessee Judicial Board of Conduct found former child-support magistrate Lu Ann Ballew guilty on charges of violating judicial canons regarding impartiality and bias.  The charges stem from a case in which she insisted that parents change their child's first name from "Messiah" to "Martin" because only Jesus should be called "Messiah." She has already been fired from her position as magistrate because of her conduct. (See prior posting.) The panel will be releasing a written opinion in the case later.

Tennessee Magistrate Who Objected To Parents' Naming Child "Messiah" Is Fired

Reuters reported yesterday that Tennessee Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew who gained widespread attention after she insisted that parents change their child's first name from "Messiah" to "Martin" has been fired from her position, effective last Friday, by the presiding judge of Tennessee's 4th judicial district. Ballew told the child's parents-- who had a dispute only over the child's last name-- that: "the word Messiah is a title and it's a title that has only been earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ." Her decision was reversed by a chancery court judge.  Ballew has been charged with ethics violations for her action by the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct. (See prior posting.)

Indonesia's Supreme Court Penalizes Judges On East Java's Religious Affairs Court

The Jakarta Globe reports that yesterday Indonesia's Supreme Court imposed unspecified penalties on 11 of the 12 members of the Religious Affairs Court in Ponorogo district, East Java, for permitting attorneys who are members of the unofficial Indonesian Congress of Advocates (KAI) to practice before the court. The Religious Affairs Court's chief judge reported the violation.  Under Indonesia’s 2003 Law on Attorneys, only members of the Indonesian Association of Advocates (Peradi) are allowed to practice.

Panel Recommends Judge's Suspension and Fine For Selling Religious Items In Courthouse

A Hearing Panel of the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission filed an opinion on Monday recommending imposing a public reprimand, a 3-month suspension without pay and a fine of $17,000 on state court judge Judith W. Hawkins.  Among other things, she was found guilty of selling religious books, study guides, and other products of Gaza Road Ministries which she founded to lawyers who appeared before her and to courthouse employees, promoting products appearing in her judicial robes on the Gaza Road Ministries website, and using her judicial assistant during working hours to promote and produce the products. In Inquiry Concerning Judge Judith W. Hawkins, (FL Judic. Qual. Commn., Jan. 27, 2014), the hearing panel published its conclusions without alluding to the fact that the products Hawkins promoted were religious in nature, saying: "The identity and nature of the business are irrelevant to these proceedings; and the business is therefore referred to by a pseudonym." The panel went on to conclude:

Judge Hawkins operated a private, for profit business from her judicial chambers. She linked the sale of ABC's products to her judicial office, by a website, which depicted her in a judicial robe, and described her as a county court judge in Tallahassee. She used state time and resources (including her judicial assistant) to promote ABC. This conduct violates Canons 1, 2B and 5D of the Code of Judicial Conduct. It lent the prestige of judicial office to advance the private interest of the judge.

The Tampa Bay Times reports on the hearing panel's recommendations. (See prior related posting.)