25 Feb 2014 at 11:25 AM

1st Circuit, Benchslaps, Federal Judges, Judge of the Day

Federal Judge Goes Ballistic On Defense Counsel During Hearing

By Joe Patrice

Judges can usually keep it together even when the lawyers deserve a paddlin’ for their disrespectful behavior. And I cannot imagine how a judge summons the depth of patience required to deal with a pro se litigant without constantly losing their composure. While lawyers may privately think of judges as arrogant and imperious from time to time, when you really look at the job, judges spend most of their time holding their tongues.
Which is why a uncontrolled outburst from a federal judge is such a rare treat.
Now you may think, “This is probably a minor rebuke blown out of proportion.” To that I quote David Frank, the managing editor of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly: “I have heard judges raise their voice. I’ve heard judges get tense. I have never heard something as loud as that.”
I guess this was less of a benchslap and more of a benchpunch….

Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV, presiding over a hearing in the upcoming corruption trial of former Probation Commissioner John O’Brien and his alleged accomplices, wasn’t a happy camper yesterday when he launched into a tirade against the defense attorneys in his Boston courtroom:

When soft-spoken defense attorney Stellio Sinnis quietly objected, interrupting the judge, Saylor snapped.
“Mr. Sinnis,” Saylor screamed, “do not interrupt me!”
****
Responding to Saylor’s conduct Monday, defense attorney John Amabile rose, saying, “Your Honor is so entwined in this, you have lost your ability to conduct these proceedings in a fair manner.”
He continued briefly until the judge snapped.
“Mr. Amabile, I said I did not want to hear about this,” he said. “Sit down.”
Amabile requested he be heard on the facts.
“Thank you,” the judge said. “Sit down.”
“I will sit down,” Amabile said. “But I want the record to reflect I haven’t been allowed to make my argument.”
“Sit down,” the judge said.

Is this a breach of decorum? Sure. But even without hearing Judge Saylor’s side of the story, it seems like the defense counsel deserved what they got.
The strategy employed by defense counsel in seeking to recuse Judge Saylor went far beyond diplomatically raising concerns about the “appearance of impropriety.” First the defense counsel tried to trump up the fact that a federal judge in Boston might have professional connections with the Goodwin Proctor lawyer, Paul Ware, who conducted the independent investigation. Judge Saylor denied this as laughable. Then the defense came back. The Probation Department corruption case alleges that the former leadership of the department set up a rigged hiring system to guarantee that its hires favored the politically connected in return to budgetary preference and outsized clout. In its renewed motion for recusal, defense counsel fixate on Judge Timothy Hillman, Judge Saylor’s colleague, who once worked in the state court and sponsored candidates for promotion in the probation office. According to defense lawyers that means the scheme was not corrupt, but a widespread practice that even future federal judges embraced.
So another federal judge is tangentially involved in the case so… no federal judge can hear it? If anything, wouldn’t Judge Saylor’s sympathy for his colleague make him more biased toward the defense?
Basically the defense lawyers stole a page from the playbook of younger siblings everywhere. Pick, pick, pick. Over the course of weeks the defense attorneys kept this up. And now the strategy has paid off like it always does because that constant, obnoxious badgering eventually elicited a violent outburst, and mom is going to blame the judge. With the role of mom probably played by the First Circuit.
Now the defense will shift from hinting that Judge Saylor is biased — which would reveal their provocation — and start calling him crazy and unbalanced:

Stunned by the 0 to 60 acceleration of anger, the courtroom heard the judge accuse Sinnis of being “emotional” and not being able to control his emotions.
“Well, let me put it this way,” [Boston lawyer Harvey] Silverglate said. “When a defense attorney manages to elicit a volcanic reaction from a judge and the defense attorney doesn’t do anything that can vaguely be considered contemptuous then you really do have to wonder how much invested in the case and sitting on the case the judge is.”

Yep. Classic.
In other news, Judge Saylor is currently serving on the FISA Court, ensuring that the federal government’s broad search programs are held to non-existent the strictest constitutional scrutiny. Maybe he can direct a little of this righteous rage toward the prosecutors in that Star Chamber, eh?
In Recusal Hearing, Probation Case Judge Explodes In Anger [WBUR]

21 Jan 2014 at 1:23 PM

Email Scandals, Judge of the Day, Racism

Judge Who Sent Racist Email Sent Lots Of Racist Emails… Probably Because He’s Racist

By Elie Mystal

How many racist emails does it take to brand someone a racist? My personal rule is “one.” If you send one horribly racist email that actually manages to leak out into public discourse, it’s probably not your only one. Seeing a racist email from someone is like seeing a mouse in your apartment: there’s never just one. I believe in temporary insanity, but I don’t believe in sudden onset racism that magically appears once and only once and then disappears forever.
Of course, whenever anybody gets caught in a racist email scandal, they always say that it’s the only one. It’s always “Whoops, that email was racist, but I’m not racist.” The racist email is always allegedly “out of character,” and the person always claims to have shown “poor judgment.” And that person always has some apologists, as if sending one or two racist emails is just something that “happens” in the normal course of business to non-racist people.
That’s what Judge Richard Cebull claimed. In 2012, he was busted sending around a racist email about President Obama. He claimed that he didn’t mean to be “racist” — he just meant to voice his displeasure with the president (as if it wasn’t bad enough for the judge to be taking public opinions about the sitting president).
Some people bought the Cebulls**t. Not me. And Cebull eventually retired. But the investigation into his misconduct continued, and now that investigation has been made public.
Surprise, Richard Cebull sent a ton of racist, sexist, and otherwise inappropriate emails…

The Judicial Council of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals conducted an investigation into Cebull’s behavior in 2013. When Cebull retired in May of that year, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski decided to withhold the report, noting only that the committee found “similarly inappropriate” emails attributed to Cebull.
I tend to think secrecy helps nobody. Just how racist was this guy who was ruling over people in Montana?
Turns out, pretty damn racist. The U.S. Judicial Conference’s Committee on Judicial Conduct ordered the Ninth Circuit report to be made public. And it’s pretty damning. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

In its now-public report, the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council said a subsequent search of court computer tapes dating from 2008 found hundreds of disparaging e-mails sent by Cebull to “personal and professional contacts and court staff.”
Many messages were political and expressed “disdain and disapproval for liberal political leaders” or commented on legislation on topics like gun control and civil rights, the report said. It said a significant number included jokes or commentary disparaging African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos – especially illegal immigrants – and women, and a few were antigay.
The report did not quote any of the offending e-mails.

Hundreds! Cebull initially defended his racist email as being “simply” anti-Obama, but it seems he was sending a lot of awful things that have nothing to do with the president. Somebody must have seen these other Cebull emails. If you have them, please send them along to us via email.
The review found “no evidence of judicial bias,” a statement that I do not believe for a second. Racism does not have an on/off switch. You don’t fundamentally believe that blacks or immigrants or women are inferior to you, and then have that not come out in your professional life. Especially when your professional life involves judging people. If the Ninth Circuit didn’t find evidence of judicial bias, then I think that the Ninth Circuit wasn’t looking hard enough.
Of course, the Ninth Circuit had no reason to really look hard enough. Cebull was a federal judge for 15 years. Did the Ninth Circuit really want to call into question 15 years of federal opinions? They’d be dealing with Cebull-based appeals for the rest of their lives. It’s much cleaner for the court to say, “The man’s retired, let’s move on.”
And really, there are probably tons of people who are just as racist as Richard Cebull floating around the federal judiciary. Nobody actually wants to wrestle with all of the instances of judicial bias in our system. It’s better to encourage judges to not be racist than to look back at all the racist federal judges who have come before.
Just remember Richard Cebull the next time somebody waxes poetic about the importance of stare decisis. Some of our “well settled law” was settled by racist-ass people operating with unaccountable impunity. Excuse me if I don’t think those people deserve a lot of deference.
Earlier: Judge of the Day: Montana Chief Judge Forwards Racially Charged Joke About Obama
Richard Cebull Day Two: Time for the Cebullsh** Apology

05 Aug 2013 at 2:05 PM

Attorney Misconduct, Judge of the Day, Legal Ethics, New Jersey, Sex, Sex Scandals, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns

Judge Allegedly Pounds Gavel, Stripper

By Joe Patrice

Let’s discuss your case.

A judge probably shouldn’t frequent a strip club. Forget all the arguments about the morality of strip clubs, or the need for judges to adhere to higher standards, or how the human brain can’t sustain that many playings of Girls Girls Girls by Mötley Crüe, the place is just crawling with people bound to show up in your courtroom for one reason or another.
But if a judge is going to frequent a strip club, it’s hard to top this judge’s style. He allegedly leveraged his legal know-how into sleeping with a dancer. Not bad. Better yet, instead of the clap he earned only a disciplinary complaint.
There’s no justice in the champagne room…

Judge Roman Montes, the chief judge of the Elizabeth Municipal Court and a judge in the Rahway Municipal Court in New Jersey (of course), got hit with a formal complaint last week for failing to conduct himself in a manner befitting his office. But if judges can’t go to strip clubs, how can they scout the new bailiff talent? Stereotypical club DJs make for awesome courtroom entrances.
More specifically, Judge Montes was hanging out at (now I’m going to link to this, but recognize that it’s the site of a gentlemen’s club, so don’t click on it unless you’re prepared for everyone around you to hear stripper music) Breathless [NSFW], which is technically a Go-Go bar rather than a strip club. So maybe it’s unfair to use the term “stripper” here, but I feel comfortable generalizing scantily clad exotic dancers into homo stripperum. According to Google Maps, this is what this joint looks like:

Some really classy ladies must hang out in there.
In any event, while hanging out at this ersatz Bada Bing, Judge Montes allegedly met a dancer who recognized him as the judge presiding over her domestic abuse case.
The dancer had filed charges against her boyfriend and appeared in front of Judge Montes a couple weeks earlier. At this point the judge allegedly got her number, because he’s a boss.
Now here’s where the judge is kind of getting a bad rap. Assuming everything in the complaint is accurate, after realizing that his dancer/soon-to-be-something-more was litigating in front of him, he dutifully told court personnel to transfer the case to another court because of his encounter at Breathless. That seems like EXACTLY what he should have done. The fact that court personnel are painfully slow at their jobs in Rahway is not the fault of Judge Montes. (Well, actually it may be, since a previous clerk of his sued him for sexual harassment, so maybe he’s not running the tightest ship over there.)
While the transfer was still pending, Judge Montes allegedly continued making it rain knowledge, talking to the dancer about the case itself since he was not going to be her judge any more. According to the complaint, she asked him to come back and see her at the club. He asked her to dinner. Way to raise the stakes.
After the case was finally transferred and resolved, Judge Montes is alleged to have told another judge that he transferred the case because he “commenced an intimate relationship with the dancer that was sexual in nature.”
The complaint lists three ethical violations:

19. By knowingly engaging in a personal relationship with a victim in a matter pending before Respondent and prior to the final disposition of that matter, Respondent violated Canons 1 and 2A of the Code of Judicial Conduct in that he did not personally observe high standards of conduct so that the integrity of the Judiciary is preserved and did not act in a way that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the Judiciary.
20. By engaging in extra-judicial activities with a victim of a legal matter pending before Respondent and prior to its final disposition in Clark, Respondent demeaned the judicial office in violation of Canon 5A(2) of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

I guess I’m on Judge Montes’s side here, because as he saw it, he engaged in a personal relationship with a victim in a matter NO LONGER pending before him. It’s kind of form over substance to say he should have held off for two weeks while the transfer went through.
And when we’re talking about strippers, it’s all about substance over superficiality.
As usual, the full complaint is available on the next page…

Judge of the Day: A State Judge Reveals What’s Underneath His Robe — Via Sext Message

By Staci Zaretsky

Judge Wade McCree

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, another judge goes and pulls a Weiner. In case you haven’t heard, Wade McCree, a state judge from Michigan, has been accused of sending nearly-nude photos to a bailiff via sext message. That’s right, we’ve got judicial divos posing for male pin-up shots right here in America (sorry to steal your Canadian thunder, Madam Justice Lori Douglas).
As they say on the internet, TTIWWOP — “This Thread Is Worthless Without Pictures.” Well, we’ve got one (safe for work, of course)….

Now, you’d think that a man wearing a bow tie would be conservative, but not Judge McCree. He’s sexy, and he knows it — no, seriously, he really is. Fox Detroit has the story:

A husband is upset after finding a photo of a nearly nude man on his wife’s cell phone. She says the photo came from her boss? What does she do for a living? She’s a court bailiff. Who’s her boss? Detroit 3rd Circuit Judge Wade McCree.

Needless to say, the bailiff’s husband was pissed — he filed a complaint with Michigan’s Judicial Tenure Commission. But he also did what any spouse would do if he were afraid of putting a beating on a man: he brought Judge McCree’s textual interpretation of his hot bod to the media’s attention.
Judge McCree, however, doesn’t really seem to give a damn. In an interview with Fox Detroit, the good judge had this to say of his “tastefully cropped,” semi-nude picture:

“Hot dog, yep that’s me. I’ve got no shame in my game. I ain’t talking to nobody else’s wife. You can almost get that here and now. I’ve sent that out to other women. There’s nothing nude about it. I’m in no more clothes than I’ll be at the Y this afternoon when I swim my mile.”

We’ve posted a photograph and a video clip of Judge McCree on the next page. Since many of you access this site at work, the picture has been redacted to remove any nudity — as redacted, it doesn’t show any body parts that you couldn’t see in a day at the beach, or in the pages of a Hollywood gossip magazine.
And now, for those of you who are willing, let’s move on to the photo of Judge McCree in nearly all his glory

http://abovethelaw.com/2012/04/judge-of-the-day-a-state-judge-reveals-whats-underneath-his-robe-via-sext-message/