Judge of the Day, Women's Issues

Judge of the Day: Minnesota Judge Brings The Funny

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I like it when judges show a sense of humor. It gives me metaphysical joy when judges refuse to act like legal automatons, and it makes my job easier.
Hennepin County District Judge Stephen Aldrich is a man who understands that court proceedings need not be devoid of the occasional one-liner:

Three weeks ago in family court, reviewing a domestic violence order for protection, a transcript shows Judge Aldrich telling the husband and wife, “I’ve been married 45 years. We’ve never considered divorce, a few times murder, maybe.”

As Chris Rock says, you haven’t been in love unless you’ve considered killing your spouse “and the only thing that stops you is an episode of CSI.”
I think Judge Aldrich should be applauded for his humor. But we live in America, the land of perpetually bunched panties. So it’s not so surprising that some people are calling for Judge Aldrich to resign.
Details after the jump.


Fox 9 – Minneapolis reports:

A court watchdog group, called Watch, is calling for Judge Aldrich’s resignation. The joke lands flat, when you consider 21 women in Minnesota were killed last year in domestic violence. Many like Pam Taschuk, who was murdered last month, and had restraining orders against their partners.

*Sigh*
Everybody who thinks Judge Aldrich was advocating for domestic violence, please raise your hand. Thanks. Now please bring that hand down in a quick slapping motion upside your own head. Repeat until you get a clue.
Apparently, Aldrich also made other jokes that oversensitive people have a problem with:

When there was a clerical error in a file, he said, “with all the women running for president, there’s no one left to make things right.”

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Come on, that’s kind of funny. I chuckled. And you know what, if he had said “with all the black men running for president, I think Kevin Love’s minutes are going to skyrocket,” I would have chuckled a bit too. Of course there is a line with this kind of judicial humor, and I’m sure a bunch of people would cross it. But you can’t be all-PC all the time.
Let’s save our judicial watchdog firepower for judges that are sexist when it comes to decision making. Let’s call out judges that buy the “she was asking for it” defense and play grab ass with female clerks.
Surely there are bigger fish to fry (wait, this is Minnesota), there are better beavers to snatch (no, no, that’s going to get me in trouble), there are bigger bears to bone (I give up) than Judge Aldrich.
Watchdog Group Asks Judge to Resign [Fox 9 – Minneapolis]

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