Judge Benchslaps Fellow Jurist In Awesomely Feisty Footnote

Whoa, these judges probably shouldn't sit next to each other on the bench at court.

Rather than support her opinion with legal analysis and authority, however, [Justice Espinosa] chooses, for reasons we cannot fathom, to dress her argument in language so derisive that it is unbefitting an opinion of this state’s highest court. Perhaps worse, her interest lies only in launching groundless ad hominem attacks and claiming to be able to divine the (allegedly improper) personal motivations of the majority. We will not respond in kind to Justice Espinosa’s offensive accusations; we are content, instead, to rely on the merits of our analysis of the issues presented by this appeal. Unfortunately, in taking a different path, Justice Espinosa dishonors this court.

— An excerpt taken from footnote 69 of the majority opinion in Lapointe v. Commissioner, written by Justice Richard N. Palmer of the Connecticut Supreme Court. In that footnote, Justice Palmer attacks Justice Carmen E. Espinosa for her dissenting opinion, where she purportedly misinterprets the meaning of habeas corpus.

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