Why US judges allowed to be bullies, "terror" on the bench and abusive?

J

jerry m

New member
I just watched the questioning of judge Sotomayor in the Senate where it was mentioned that she is characterized like that (see subject) by many lawyers who had bad luck participating in her courts.

I never been to the court myself, but I saw many movies and comments of other people that lead me to believe that such behavior is quite typical among judges.

Judges are essentially government employees and they should behave like that. They should be polite, respectful, calm. Look at executive branch: how polite and nice are all presidents and other executives, at least on the surface.

It seems to me that such behavior isn't remotely professional. And yet, appallingly, instead of being discharged she is promoted all the way to Supreme Court. This really looks unacceptable to me, but the reality is unfortunately different.

Are there any standards that regulate judge behavior?

Are there any cases, other than violation of law, when judges were dismissed for inappropriate behavior?

Why bar associations are so lax regulating judge behavior?
To 'just me':

It doesn't matter how many such complaints were voiced. We actually don't know how many exactly.

The point is she was caught doing this. And no one stepped up and fired her for that like pretty much any non-judge employee would be.
I am sorry, my previous remark was for the user 'Common'
 
1. Yes, there are rules that regulate judges' behavior. It varies by state, but generally all judges are charged with maintaining decorum in the court and the integrity of the proceedings.

2. Yes, there are many, many cases where judges have been excused for inappropriate behavior and even been stripped of their position. One that comes to mind is Judge Halverson (sp?) from Las Vegas. She was a nut ball.

3. Bar associations do not regulate judges' behavior. Each state has a commission or committee on judicial behavior that is tasked with this job.

4. Finally, you have to keep in mind that a judge's job is not to provide a soap box for people to rant on until kingdom come. Judges have insane case loads and must keep things moving quickly and efficiently. A person is supposed to show up to court ready to go (this is especially true for attorneys), and well versed on all the salient points of procedure and law.

Out of the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people that have been in Sotomayor's court room, how many of those actually have a complaint? And how many of those have a complaint that isn't spurred on by the fact that they lost?
 
Excellent point. It is repulsive and un-American to have a system where one person can act as God in their little world, berating people and throwing them in jail merely because they said something they don’t like. And they use the “contempt” charge to justify their bullying. There should be a separate branch that regulates and observes the behavior of judges to prevent this abuse. They should never be allowed to make personal remarks about anyone in their court.
 
Then you have judges like that one in Oklahoma who sentenced a child rapist to one year in jail.

Good thing to look into.
 
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