General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"we didn't let girls do it in the old days" says judge
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/We-didn-t-let-girls-do-it-in-the-old-days-a-13114438.phpBuried in a footnote, the brief rebuke nonetheless marked a notable step in abridging gender discrimination in the legal workplace: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit scolded a veteran judge for making sexist comments in his Houston courtroom, calling his remarks "demeaning, inappropriate, and beneath the dignity" of his profession.
U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes had been presiding over a criminal case against Simone Swenson, an adoption agency owner charged with fraud.
Under federal rules, prosecutors are permitted to wait until just before trial to turn over pieces of evidence, known as discovery. But when a female federal prosecutor delivered stacks of new documents during four pretrial conferences in early 2017 - weeks after the final discovery date set by Hughes - the septuagenarian judge was not impressed.
"You're supposed to know what you're doing," Hughes said to an assistant U.S. attorney on Feb. 6, 2017. "What else is out there that you misplaced or didn't think was relevant so you didn't check it at all?"
Hughes dismissed the Swenson indictment, faulting the prosecutor's mistakes.
Then he said something else that eventually became the basis of the rebuke.
"It was a lot simpler when you guys wore dark suits, white shirts and navy ties," Hughes said, according to the 5th Circuit. "We didn't let girls do it in the old days."
The U.S. attorney's office appealed the case's dismissal, which set up a panel of appellate judges to send back its censorious response.
raccoon
(31,089 posts)True Dough
(17,090 posts)He's probably extremely jealous that Judge Judy has her own TV show
Racerdog1
(808 posts)Put this dumbass bastard out to pasture. The world has passed him by.
Sanity Claws
(21,822 posts)Can't say I'm surprised.
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)riversedge
(69,713 posts)CatMor
(6,212 posts)3Hotdogs
(12,207 posts)dsc
(52,129 posts)but I actually did agree with the result of his decision even as it is unsupported by federal rules. I don't think it is fair for the prosecution to be able to dump boxes of evidence at the last hour as she apparently did. Unfortunately the current rules allow for that.
trueblue2007
(17,138 posts)horrible thing for him to say. leave the judges bench grandpa.
llmart
(15,499 posts)I'm getting a little tired of posts on DU referring to everything stupid that an older person does as "age related medical condition" or more specifically when someone claims it's dementia or senility or whatever. Can we just agree that just because someone's a senior it doesn't necessarily mean they have cognitive problems when they do something stupid or egregious.
I have always believed that whatever particular undesirable personality traits one has as a younger adult can be exacerbated with age and become more prevalent. Take Trump for example (please!). He's always been an ass and a self-involved narcissist. The things he does aren't attributable to him being older so much as him always being this type of person.
With regard to this post, this guy was most likely always a sexist asshole.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)Fortinbras Armstrong
(4,473 posts)But well after it. If the judge had kept his sexism to himself, he would have had no problems.
IronLionZion
(45,256 posts)to federal judgeships very quietly after they blocked Obama's appointees over the last several years. We're going to see more deplorable stuff from the courts for a very long time.
avebury
(10,946 posts)questioned his ruling. He should have known when to stop.
Response to avebury (Reply #14)
Name removed Message auto-removed
dawg
(10,609 posts)Boys either.
Only grownup men and women.