There are more and more stories about judges making controversial and/or racist comments while in court or during speeches. When should these comments be considered in deciding if a judge can be impartial while on the bench or if these comments constitute judicial misconduct since the judge clearly has a bias.
The Intercept has a story on Judge Edith Smith, who has served as a judge since 1985. Over the course of her service, she has made statements such as: A sleeping lawyer isn’t necessarily a bad criminal defense lawyer, there is a correlation between the decline of personal shame and bankruptcy filings and straying from religion is the cause of corruption in the legal system. None of those statements were enough to alarm legal ethicists, it was a speech given last year in which she used improper and racist comments to a group of law students that finally sparked an investigation.
Click here to read The Intercept article on Judge Edith Jones.