State Judges Are Clowns, Women's Issues

Breastfeeding Is Against The Law In This Judge's Courtroom

Women lawyers shouldn't have to choose between breastfeeding or practicing law.

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It’s 2015, and although 49 states and the District of Columbia have laws which allow women to breastfeed in any public or private location, it seems that at least one judge is behind the times on this issue.

Last week in Florida, Judge Fred Seraphin of the Miami-Dade County Court allegedly refused to accommodate assistant public defender Marissa Altman Glatzer’s request for a 15-minute break every three to four hours during trial so that she would be able to pump breast milk. Glatzer claims that she made the same request of two other judges, and they were more than willing to assist her — one judge even offered up his chambers as a place for her to nurse.

Here’s more information on the incident from Julie Kay of the Daily Business Review:

The incident took place June 15 while Glatzer was attending a hearing with an assistant public defender she was helping train. Seraphin was setting trial for the next day. That’s when Glatzer told the judge she would need a 15-minute break every three to four hours.

Before she could get her entire request out, Glatzer said Seraphin interrupted and said he refused to give trial breaks.

“He said, ‘Just get another attorney to try the case,'” she recalled. “I said, ‘I can’t get another attorney.’ He said, ‘I don’t care. It’s not my business how your office assigns cases.'”

Glatzer said she later went to Seraphin’s chambers to request an appointment with him to discuss the situation and was turned down by the judicial assistant.

Glatzer isn’t the first working mother to be treated like a second-class citizen due to her child-rearing responsibilities. Last year, a judge in Georgia refused to grant a continuance to an attorney on maternity leave — so she brought her newborn to court to argue the case. Something distrubingly similar happened in Texas in 2012. Last year, the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar refused to allow a new mother to take breaks to pump breast milk during the bar exam. (The Illinois Bar changed course after negative media coverage.)

In an interview with the Daily Business Review, Seraphin claimed that this was simply a “miscommunication.” Glatzer, on the other hand, has the support of Miami-Dade Public Defender Carlos Martinez, who has ordered an audiotape of the hearing to see if Glatzer’s description of the events that took place are accurate. In the meantime, Martinez has chosen to defend her: “Ms. Glatzer was courteous and professional. She advised the judge a day before the trial that she would need a break every three hours. Her reasonable request was met with a level of insensitivity and inflexibility that is inexplicable.”

Glatzer also has the backing of a local support group for women lawyers:

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“Women lawyers shouldn’t have to choose between breast-feeding or practicing law,” said Ileana Cruz of the Miami-Dade County attorney’s office and president of the Miami-Dade chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers. The group “is committed to working with the local bar to find ways to change the current mindset that has led to open discrimination against breast-feeding mothers.”

And yet, women lawyers are being asked to choose between their practice and their duties as mothers every day. Who says women can’t successfully achieve the goals of being great attorneys and great mothers? They’re not as mutually exclusive as some members of the legal community would have you believe. It is possible to overcome the obstacles that have the potential to set women lawyers up to fail when they have children, it’s just a matter of finding a way to do so. In this case, perhaps Seraphin could use some sensitivity training — other lawyers report that this isn’t the first time he’s been unreasonable with regard granting breaks and continuances for genuine medical and child-care issues.

As for Glatzer, she believes that this situation boils down to “people being treated like human beings.” “It’s common decency,” she said, “I’m really in shock.” We are, too.

Seraphin later continued Glatzer’s case, and it will be assigned to another attorney.

Judge in Hot Water for Denying Nursing Breaks for Attorney [Daily Business Review]

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Earlier: Judge Refuses To Postpone Hearing Because Maternity Leave Isn’t A Good Enough Excuse
New Mother Denied The Right To Breastfeed During Bar Exam

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