This is a few days old -- but in light of today's tech problems, for which we again apologize, we're having one of those days. So please cut us some slack.

From an article by Julie Kay in the National Law Journal:

The Florida Bar is investigating whether newly appointed New York Court of Claims Judge O. Peter Sherwood -- the former New York solicitor general -- violated bar rules on the unlicensed practice of law by appearing in a Florida case without registering.

Jeffrey Picker, bar counsel at the Florida Bar, said Thursday that the bar is investigating a complaint made against Sherwood that he failed to register with the bar and pay a filing fee as required for out-of-state attorneys. "The file is confidential, but we can say that we are investigating," he said.

Picker did not say whether the bar was looking into the second part of the complaint, in which Miami attorney J.B. Harris alleges that Sherwood verbally abused his client and refused to reschedule a deposition even though she was recovering from surgery and heavily drugged.

Why reschedule? Depos when the client is all drugged up are the best kind. It might be interesting, when the lawyer conducting the deposition asks the boilerplate "are you under the influence" question, to have the witness answer "hell yeah" for once.

More discussion, after the jump.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Kelly MacEachern is no longer listed among the judges on the court's website, but you can still Google her bio. We suspect that only in California would a judge list "rollerblading" as her number one interest.

MacEachern was removed from office yesterday for filing "false and misleading expense claims for a legal conference in San Diego," then lying about it when she got caught. Oh, the tangled webs we weave.

The conference didn't get off to a good start for her. From the L.A. Times:

[MacEachern] tried to enroll in two classes -- "Excellence in Judging" and "Statements of Decision" -- during the weeklong San Diego conference, according to the commission.

About a week later, she was informed that she was denied entry into the "Excellence in Judging" course, held Monday through Wednesday, because she lacked the required experience of eight years or more on the bench.

Denied entry into "Excellence in Judging?" How odd.

She was, however, accepted into the one-day "Statements of Decision" class and was told the state would directly pay the Hyatt Regency for one night's stay, up to $110.

MacEachern decided to stay at the hotel for a week anyway, and included the three "unauthorized nights" in her reimbursement request. Perhaps she needed the time to rollerblade in San Diego.

In a series of e-mails with the court's travel coordinator, Rick Valadez, MacEachern reported that when she arrived at the conference, "there was a mix-up with my registration," so she "just sat in on the Judicial Excellence class on Monday." She also said she sat in on a domestic violence class Thursday.

MacEachern, confronted by Orange County Superior Court Presiding Judge Nancy Stock after an investigation by her office, conceded that she had not attended either of the classes and that her e-mail to Valadez was misleading, according to the commission. She then withdrew her claim.

"Mix-up" is a great catchall phrase that usually allows for back-pedaling. Unfortunately, it's hard to back-pedal out of trying to bill the state for your personal vacation. Oh well, more time for rollerblading!

Orange County judge is removed from bench [Los Angeles Times]

A friend who's working for the summer at the AG's office in Montgomery, AL, had the chance to work on a case in which the Alabama Court of the Judiciary removed Circuit Court Judge Stuart DuBose from the bench. From the Alabama Press-Register:

DuBose, 51, faced 60 ethics charges, stemming from a series of incidents in which the judge verbally abused attorneys and subordinates, attempted to influence fellow judges in matters of personal benefit and made statements that put his impartiality into question.

Sixty charges! And that description understates the insanity of this ex-judge's behavior. More on the alleged antics of this bizarre former jurist, after the jump.

Television jurist Judith Sheindlin, aka "Judge Judy," is one tough customer. No matter what you do, don't pee on her leg and tell her it's raining.

But it seems that there's a real-life "Judge Judy" who may be similarly difficult. From the ABA Journal:

A Seattle-area judge has been accused of routinely interrupting litigants and lawyers and addressing them in a manner that is "angry, disdainful, condescending and/or demeaning."

The state Commission on Judicial Conduct claims in a statement of charges (PDF) that Judge Judith Eiler treated lawyers and self-represented litigants in a way that is "rude, impatient, undignified and intimidating," the Tacoma News Tribune reports.

Eiler underwent behavior therapy with an emphasis on sensitivity training after she received a reprimand in 2005 for impatient and rude behavior, the story says.

It seems that Her Honor may be something of a rudeness recidivist. Is this proof that "sensitivity training" is just a big old waste of time? Or is Judge Eiler just auditioning for a TV judge gig of her own?

P.S. Compliments to the crew at Wired on their photoshop skills, which you can see by comparing the two photos at right.

Judge Who Had Sensitivity Training Is Accused Again of Rudeness [ABA Journal]
Judge on the hot seat again [Tacoma News-Tribune]
Judge: Spam Exempt From Law When Sender Names Self [Wired]
Judge Judith R. Eiler bio [King County District Court]

A commenter recently nominated a former Georgia magistrate judge, D. William Garrett, as Judge of the Day. We gladly accept the nomination -- which was seconded by several tipsters by email, including one who requested a shout-out to David Bowie -- and crown Judge Garrett with this honor.

Some judges who are notorious for working their clerks too hard are called "slave drivers." [FN1] Judge Garrett may fit the term more literally, if the allegations are true. From today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

A former Fulton County magistrate judge, along with his son, a Forsyth County deputy, and his son's wife, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on human trafficking charges involving a nanny from India.

William Garrett Jr., 72, an Alpharetta lawyer; deputy sheriff Russell Garrett, 43; and Malika Garrett, 42, were charged in a nine-count indictment.

Russell and Malika Garrett, who have been married since 1993 and have two children, live in Woodstock. The couple faces charges of human trafficking, alien harboring, witness tampering and making false statements

In case you're wondering, William Garrett was a judge at the time of the alleged conduct. It appears he left the bench at the end of 2005.

More after the jump.

Today we recognize former judge Verna Sue Holland, a retired trial court judge from Texas, as our Judge of the Day. And it's not because of her resemblance to Bea Arthur.

From the Dallas Morning News (via Sentencing Law and Policy):

After hours of legal wrangling between attorneys and judges, including protests from leading legal ethicists over an alleged relationship between a judge and prosecutor in the trial of Charles Dean Hood, Tuesday passed without the Collin County murderer's execution....

About 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, without explaining his reasoning, a district judge in Collin County ordered the death warrant vacated and immediately recused himself from the case. The prosecution then repeatedly appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeals. The appeals court initially ruled that the district judge had no authority to act, but since he had recused himself, the appeals court also said it could not order him to reinstate the death warrant.

After more appeals from prosecutors, about 9:15 p.m. the Court of Criminal Appeals ordered Judge John Ovard, the regional presiding judge, to reinstate the death warrant. He did so shortly before 11 p.m.

But the execution didn't go forward last night, because "prison officials said they didn't have time to ensure it was conducted properly before the midnight deadline for the death warrant was to expire." As a result, Charles Dean Hood has a new (although likely temporary) lease on life.

And it's all thanks to Judge Holland. If she hadn't had an alleged affair with the District Attorney, Hood probably would have been executed by now. Nice work, Judge Holland!

(For more details about this strange case, see Capital punishment, a love story?!?, by sentencing guru Doug Berman.)

Hood execution stopped at last minute [Sentencing Law and Policy]
Collin County murderer not executed after day of legal wrangling [Dallas Morning News]
Capital punishment, a love story?!? [Sentencing Law and Policy]

UPDATE: Judge Kozinski has suspended the trial for 48 hours, to allow the prosecution to explore "a potential conflict of interest concerning the court having a... sexually explicit website with similar material to what is on trial here." [Los Angeles Times; New York Sun; New York Times; AP]

Congratulations to Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He is currently presiding over a high-profile obscenity trial in Los Angeles. In addition, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, for some time he "has maintained his own publicly accessible website featuring sexually explicit photos and videos." Accordingly, he is our Judge of the Day.

A number of you emailed us about this Los Angeles Times article, which contains some colorful details about the materials that were available on Chief Judge Kozinski's website until recently (it's now under lockdown). We previously linked to and discussed the L.A. Times story here. Please note that when we refer to material "after the jump" or "below the fold," you need to click on the little "Continue reading" link to read the rest of the post. Sometimes we save the juiciest material for after the jump.

In any event, we reached out to Chief Judge Kozinski for comment. He sent us the following email:

David: I can't comment on the trial.

As for the other matter, the server was maintained by my son, Yale, for the entire family. Pictures, documents, music, audio and other items of personal and family interest are stored there so various family members can reach them from wherever they happen to be. Everyone in the family stores stuff there, and I had no idea what some of the stuff is or was -- I was surprised that it was there. I assumed I must have put it there by accident, but when the story broke, Yale called and said he's pretty sure he uploaded a bunch of it. I had no idea, but that sounds right, because I sure don't remember putting some of that stuff there.

I consider the server a private storage device, not meant for public access. I'd have been more careful about its contents if I had known that others could access it.

Should Chief Judge Kozinski recuse himself from the Ira Isaacs trial as a result of his website coming to light? Thus far, ATL readers vote no, by a 60-40 margin. The poll is still open; you can access it by clicking here, then scrolling down.

We'll continue to monitor the situation and bring you news of any developments as they occur.

Earlier: An L.A. Jury + Hours of Hard-Core Fetish Porn + Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, Presiding = Total Awesomeness

Our latest Judge of the Day is a family law judge from Sacramento, California. Judge Peter McBrien must be fed up with overseeing divorce cases. One of his recent judgments has been vacated, and a retrial ordered, because of his premature termination of proceedings.

Judge McBrien hurried the case along, threatening mistrials when the husband's attorney asked for -- the nerve! -- lunch and bathroom breaks. He was so impatient he ended the trial in the middle of a question to an expert witness. When the judge has to use the bathroom, it's okay to break, eh?

From the Recorder:

[A] three-justice panel ordered new proceedings in the divorce of a Sacramento-area couple whose original 2006 trial ended abruptly when Judge Peter McBrien left the bench just as a lawyer was questioning - in mid-sentence - a witness.

McBrien did not return - he said he had to handle an emergency protective order request - but did send word that he would decide the case on additional declarations and closing briefs limited to three pages.

"This method of conducting a trial cannot be condoned in a California courtroom," Justice M. Kathleen Butz wrote in the unanimous decision.

McBrien's walkout and subsequent ruling so infuriated the husband in the case, Ulf Johan Carlsson, that he has launched a recall drive against the judge. Carlsson and other McBrien critics have until late August to gather almost 30,000 signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot.

From the sound of this Sacramento News & Review column, there may be quite a few people willing to sign the petition. The columnist calls the judge "Peter 'Chainsaw' McBrien," referring to a 1999 incident in which the judge allegedly "ordered a whack-job on a half-dozen oaks blocking his bluff-side view of the American River, knowing full well the trees were on public property, thus making the act of cutting them down felony vandalism. Unless, of course, you happen to be a judge with $20,000 on hand to bargain the crime down to a misdemeanor -- and keep your ass firmly planted on the bench."

Our general advice for staying on people's good sides: Let attorneys pee, and let trees stand.

We love that the opinion from the appeals court cites case law but vests the real authority in a Greek proverb: "Only judge when you have heard all."

Reversal for Judge Who Walked Out of Trial [The Recorder]
Sacramento judge denies 'disgracing the American Judiciary System' [Sacramento News & Review]

Two Texans are competing for the honor of ATL Judge of the Day. We'll let you vote for the winner.

Mary Alice Robbins reports in the Texas Laywer on warnings issued by the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct to a Fort Worth county judge, Brent Keis, and an Amarillo district judge, Hal Miner.

Judge Brent Keis got in trouble for alleged racial insensitivity:

In April 2007, Keis attempted to engage Nuru Witherspoon, a partner in Dallas's Kelley Witherspoon, in a conversation about the transportation of enslaved Africans to the Americas in what is referred to as the "Middle Passage." Keis broached the conversation about slavery after learning that Witherspoon's first name is African in origin, but Witherspoon declined to discuss that topic with the judge.

There's also something about Judge Keis telling Witherspoon -- while she was considering a settlement offer made to her client, the plaintiff in a personal-injury case -- that he was a Republican, and that "Tarrant County juries are predominantly made up of Republicans." Sounds like Keis does not have the best judgment when it comes to appropriate courtroom conversation.

Our other Texan, Judge Hal Miner, has a problem with alleged "gender sensitivity and sexual harassment:"

While attending a December 2006 holiday party hosted by a local firm, Miner approached a female attorney and "slapped" her buttocks. Miner approached the same female attorney a second time and "his hand made contact with her buttocks again." A witness said Miner joked about the attorney's height, "commenting to the effect that he intended to slap her on the back, but her 'ass' was at hand level."

Nothing good ever comes of office holiday parties. Ask Bingham.

Judge Carlton Vines presides over traffic violations and DUIs in Chattooga County, Georgia. It's a tiny county with a population of just over 25,000. The local newspaper, The Summerville News, has an ongoing investigative series examining the county's drunk-driving phenomenon and growing number of DUI arrests.

Unfortunately, Judge Vines has become a part of the phenomenon. He was arrested in November of last year for driving drunk and leaving the scene of an accident after swerving into another car. The coppers just released the dash-cam video from the arrest. The man was trashed, slurring, and stumbling... though still cogent enough to refuse the breathalyzer.

From WBS TV:

Vines pleaded guilty to DUI charges in April. He has since spent three nights in jail, paid fines, done community service and was on house arrest.

On the tape, Vines can be heard admitting he has had "over the limit." At one point on the tape, an officer asks, "Do you remember the wreck you were involved in?" Vines can be heard responding, "I'm not going to admit or deny it but I will take responsibility."

A nolo plea -- or just good drunken logic? Vines is under voluntary suspension, and the Georgia State Judicial Commission gets to decide whether he returns to the bench.

Judge Vines makes some bizarre comment about sharecropping at the end of the YouTube video. Can someone from rural Georgia please explain?

Caught On Tape: Georgia Judge Arrested For DUI [WSB TV]
Drunk Judge Arrested [YouTube.com]

Maryland Associate Judge Bruce Lamdin likes to run his court in the model of a mean-spirited stand-up comedy routine. He has spouted off nasty comments about defendants, judges, and Maryland's Circuit Court. Yesterday, the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities sanctioned him [PDF], suspending him for 30 days without pay.

Here are some of Judge Lamdin's comic stylings offending statements from the bench:

"If she only knew how much I hate kids, she would not have brought that kid in here today."

"What's the big rush to get back to Pennsylvania? It's an ugly state."

"Well, you know, I got in trouble because I told some lady we confiscate cell phones and we put the cell phones in plastic bags and send them down to Annapolis. I suggested maybe we ought to do the same thing with children except poke holes in the bag. She filed a complaint against me for that so that's why they keep all of the children out of my courtroom now. . . We ordered some plastic bags about five foot tall but they haven't been — they haven't come in yet."

"Would you like some cheese with that whine because I’ve heard about all that I wish to hear."

"I didn't even know they had afternoon hours in the Circuit Court. . . . They are usually done by lunchtime and then they take the rest of the day off."

"Did he get his head out of where he had it inserted earlier today, Mr. Chase?"

"‘Who put up your bond money for you, your pimp? . . . Business must be good. . . . If I were to release you, you'd be scratching that itch tonight. . . . Ma'am you can't bullshit a bullshitter. . . . You may be able to get some crack down there. . . . Never know about Charm City. Those guards down there provide services for services. . . . I should just let you go to Baltimore City, they’ll give you the key to the city and then send you on your way. . . . They don’t do anything to them for prostitution down in Baltimore City, they give them one of those BELIEVE stickers to put on their backs. . . ."

The list of comments goes on. Looks like Lamdin was letting his id run rampant.

For more background on the case, see this Baltimore CIty Paper article. Colleagues says he is a good and decent judge, with a politically-incorrect sense of humor. Indeed.

University of Maryland law prof Andrew Levy tells the Baltimore Sun that "being a judge is not a license to be rude and abusive to people." Maybe Lamdin should try blogging?

IN RE: HONORABLE BRUCE S. LAMDIN [PDF]
Bench Talk - Baltimore County Judge's Mouth Gets Him in Trouble [Baltimore City Paper]
Judge punished for profanity [Baltimore Sun]

Technically Larry Hutchins is -- or was -- a mere magistrate, as opposed to a full-blown judge. But we think his alleged conduct entitles him to Judge of the Day. From the Greenville News (via the ABA Journal):

The South Carolina Supreme Court today reprimanded a retired Spartanburg magistrate after finding that he used a racial slur to refer to people a clerk might be dating and allegedly asked another clerk if she would be willing to have sex with another magistrate and secretly videotape it for use against him.

The court agreed with the Commission on Judicial Conduct’s findings and issued a reprimand for former Magistrate Larry M. Hutchins, who retired in 2004. The justices said Hutchins has repeatedly asked that his suspension or retirement be lifted.

That's unlikely, in light of this:

According to the court, a former clerk of Hutchins testified that in May 2003 he asked her if it would be difficult to get a magistrate not identified in the ruling over to her apartment. "Respondent then asked her to ‘go all the way’ with the judge, to videotape it, and respondent mentioned the availability of small cameras," the court wrote.

Secret videotaping? Perhaps to be expected from a Dunkin' Donuts employee -- or, in this day and age, the federal government -- but not from a state-court judge.

The woman refused and reported the proposal to the chief magistrate, the court said.

Also, Hutchins allegedly called a clerk superviser [sic] and said that one of the clerks was dating black men, using a racial slur, according to the court.

He added, according to the court, that there was "no telling what we might catch using the same bathroom as her."

Huh? And why would a male judge be using the same bathroom as a female clerk?

Justices reprimand retired Spartanburg magistrate [Greenville News]
Magistrate Reprimanded for Using Racial Slur, Seeking to Record Sexual Encounter [ABA Journal]

What's with Oklahoma judges and indecent exposure? Our only other Oklahoman Judge of the Day, State Judge Donald Thompson, was sentenced to four years for indecent exposure (and using a penis pump) in the courtroom in 2006.

Today's honoree is a Tulsa County district judge from the criminal division. He too seems to have trouble keeping the goods under wrap, and is facing felony charges for it:

Judge Jesse Harris was charged Thursday with two counts of indecent exposure resulting from a March 9 incident involving an ex-girlfriend and her friend in a parking lot at an east Tulsa motel. He was arrested and after being booked at the Tulsa Jail, he was released on his own recognizance. Harris denies the allegations.

Tulsa World refrained from giving a graphic description of the encounter. But the arresting officer spilled all the dirt in the affidavit [PDF]:

Victim one is Harris's ex-girlfriend, Kali Nolen. According to Tulsa World, she and Harris met when she was a process server during a 2002 lewd molestation trial. Such a romantic story...

Details revealed in Tulsa County judge's indecent exposure case [Tulsa World]
Judge's accuser offers details [Tulsa World]

You gotta love South Florida. It's such a fun, crazy place. It has South Beach, the nightlife, the fashion, the wild news-making Broward judges... Joining the ranks of Judges of the Day from Broward County (Jay "Soul Glo" Spechler, Cheryl "Beelzebub" Aleman, and Jeffrey "Wide Receiver" Levenson) is Circuit Judge Ana Gardiner.

The Broward-Palm Beach New Times has a story accusing Gardiner of flirting, partying, and getting it on with defense attorneys and prosecutors.

Defense attorney John Cotrone stood before Broward Circuit Judge Ana Gardiner in her marble-laden courtroom and dropped in what seemed like a jab at her honor.

It came after Gardiner, the chief criminal judge for the 17th Judicial Circuit, asked for an amended file on Cotrone's case. The lawyer pointed out that she had asked for the file "every time I'm in court on this."

Gardiner, a petite woman whose dark hair is tinted an artificial red, might have been displeased at being shown up by Cotrone. But instead she looked away and smiled.

"Is there a point to reminding me of that?" she asked Cotrone in her slight Cuban accent.

Gardiner shuffled through some papers on the bench before smiling again and goading Cotrone: "I may not have as good a memory as you — even though you are older than me."

It sounded almost like... flirting.

Like awkward high school flirting.

Neither Gardiner nor Cotrone was willing to comment for the piece, but one of Coltrone's friends stepped in to "help out:"

[W]ell-known defense attorney Fred Haddad, a longtime friend of Cotrone's, contacted New Times in an attempt to dissuade the newspaper from publishing the story. He claimed he was calling of his own volition. "She's one of the good ones," he said of Gardiner. "This is going to cause [Judicial Qualifying Commission] investigations, and nobody needs that."

He didn't deny that his friend was involved in a romance with the judge. Instead, he argued that judges and prosecutors and defense attorneys have been drinking together and having sex with one another for years in Broward County.

"What's the big deal so long as it doesn't affect their decisions?" he asked.

This guy is a "well-known defense attorney," and that's the best defense he could come up with. Really?

Judging Ana [New Times via JAABLOG]

This New York judge is not going to sit around waiting for the chief judge's pay raise litigation to make its way through the courts. He's taking a different route to augment his salary: filing a $1 million slip-and-fall suit.

A politically connected Brooklyn judge plans to file a $1 million lawsuit against the city after slipping on a just-mopped floor in his own courthouse, the Daily News has learned.

Supreme Court Justice Jack Battaglia - who hears civil cases and earns $136,000 a year - is even targeting the courthouse cleaning lady who wielded the mop, according to legal papers.

The judge fractured his knee in the Nov. 9, 2007, tumble outside room 452 and was forced to undergo surgery and physical therapy.

In his Jan. 31 notice of claim, Battaglia accuses the city of "negligently using a mop bucket and wringer" and "negligently using a mop and soapy water" to create a "dangerous and hazardous traplike condition."

Sounds like there could have been some bad blood between Battaglia and the cleaning lady, with her going around the courthouse setting up traplike conditions.

Or maybe cleaning ladies with vendettas are not to blame. Battaglia is part of an illustrious line of judges -- current and former, federal and state -- who have lodged slip-and-fall suits. E.g., Robert Bork, Paul Chernoff, and George Schiavelli. Are judges just an uncommonly clumsy lot?

Update: Eric Turkewitz writes: "The million dollar claim in Judge Battaglia's suit was from a Notice of Claim, which must be filed within 90 days of the occurrence. Essentially, you are required to put a number in this document even before you know what the injuries will really be. The number, however, doesn't go in the Complaint that starts the suit. In other words, it was really just a cheap shot by the Daily News."

Additional thoughts from Eric Turkewitz on the case appear over at New York Personal Injury Law Blog.

Judge suing city for $1M after fall on wet courthouse floor [New York Daily News]
Brooklyn: judge sues janitor (and city) [Overlawyered]
Judge Suing City for $1M Makes Headlines. Why? [New York Personal Injury Law Blog]

Misbehaving judges are not unique to this side of the Atlantic. Judges all over the world have the occasional screw-up. It's mighty unfortunate when the screw-up results in a man sitting in jail for a year and a half after he's been acquitted:

A Spanish judge has been fined 103,000 euros ($162,000) and suspended for a year for allowing a man to spend 455 days in prison for a crime of which he was acquitted.

The Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia said in Wednesday's ruling that Judge Adelina Entrena was guilty of grave negligence.

That's a whole lot of coin. But maybe she can afford it, based on the bling on her finger in this photo.

Here's the backstory:

[D]efendant Jose Campoy stood trial in December 2005 on charges of purse-snatching and was in preventive detention when Entrena issued an acquittal several days later. But she neglected to notify the jail, and it took 15 months for a clerk to detect the error.

Campoy had been notified by mail of his acquittal but has a long history of drug addiction and limited reading skills, the court ruling said.

Entrena blamed the oversight on a backlog of work and insufficient staffing at her courthouse in Motril in the southern province of Granada.

The English translation for the reason for her oversight is, "I forgot."

Jose Campoy should use whatever money he gets out of this to take literacy classes. Then he should read Kafka's The Trial.

Spanish Judge Fined Heavily for Letting Innocent Man Spend 15 Months in Jail [The Associated Press]

ATL honored a California trial judge, James M. Brooks, with Judge of the Day last June, when an appeals court ordered a new trial after he created a "circus-like atmosphere" in the original one. On Monday, the California Commission on Judicial Performance gave him the smackdown, issuing a decision and order imposing public admonishment [PDF].

ATL can't help but be part of the humiliation. These are some of the hilarious awful things he did during the trial in question, which are listed as reasons for the admonishment:

1. "Overruled" Signs

2. The Twilight Zone

3. Comments During the Reading of Stevenson Deposition/ Litton Examination

4. Soccer Cards

The court order is not allowing us to copy text, and we don't have a court reporter on staff to transcribe. To sum up, Judge Brooks was overseeing an employment discrimination suit, and spent a good amount of the trial exchanging jokes with the defense attorney. He made a hand-lettered "Overruled" sign for overruling the plaintiff attorney's objections. The defense attorney later provided him with a better one.

Brooks let the defense attorney mock the plaintiff's testimony by singing the Twilight Zone theme song, apparently off-key, and started using a soccer system of "red cards" to censure attorney behavior.

Judge Brooks, you are officially publicly admonished. But we must say, you sound like a fun guy!

JUDICIAL PERFORMANCE COMMISSION ISSUES PUBLIC ADMONISHMENT OF JUDGE JAMES M. BROOKS [PDF]
Decision and Order Imposing Public Admonishment [PDF]

Those Texans love the word of God. In 2005, they went to SCOTUS to defend a monument to the 10 Commandments that stands on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol. Hailing from San Antonio, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery is invoking the higher power in his judgment against a religious school's right to join a Texan school membership league.

In a ruling Tuesday denying Cornerstone Christian Schools' attempt to join the state's premier extracurricular organization, a federal judge chided the school's founder and famed preacher John Hagee for contradicting at times his own Christian tenets, using numerous references to the Bible, Koran and even a famous fairy tale.

Who needs precedent and constitutional law when there's so much wisdom to be found in Grimm tales and Disney movies?

"Just as it would be difficult for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, Cornerstone's effort to enter the UIL is denied," the ruling read, noting elsewhere that Hagee, as a public school athlete and coach years ago, competed in the UIL.

"Having not followed the proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself' nor having treated others as it would like to be treated, Cornerstone has reaped what it has sown," Biery also wrote.

The religious digs no doubt were directed at Hagee, a preacher whose political influence, televised sermons and best-selling books about the end times, Israel and financial prosperity have created ardent admirers and detractors the world over.

Based on his photo and impressive religious verbiage, we nominate Fred Biery to replace Charlton Heston as Moses.

And now a moment of silence. R.I.P. Charlton Heston.

Cornerstone loses its bid to join the UIL [San Antonio Express-News]

The fabulous Monica Goodling -- if you're on Facebook, join her fan club -- isn't the only person being accused of anti-lesbian bias these days. From the Daily Business Review (via JAABlog):

A longtime Broward County judge resigned after he was reassigned to hear traffic cases in a satellite courthouse and barred from entering the main Fort Lauderdale courthouse.

Courthouse sources said County Court Judge Jay Spechler’s reassignment came after he got into a verbal altercation with fellow County Court Judge Peggy Gehl and made disparaging comments about her sexual orientation.

Rumor has it that he called her a "robe muncher."

It seems that Judge Gehl wasn't the only colleague who had issues with Judge Spechler. According to JAABlog, Judge Spechler had something of a "reputation for bullying his colleagues."

Being reassigned to handle traffic and parking cases, in a satellite courthouse, didn't make Judge Spechler very happy. One colleague quipped, "He was reassigned to his car, essentially. He didn't like it." So he decided to accept a lucrative offer in the private sector, from a North Miami mediation firm.

If you have a vague sense that south Florida judges misbehave a lot, it's not without foundation. Per the Daily Business Review: "[Former Chief Judge Dale] Ross resigned following a series of controversies involving Broward judges accused of everything from pot smoking in a park to insensitivity on the bench. The incidents came to a head last March when Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis flew to Miami to meet with minority bar leaders."

Daily Business Review Deciphers Spechler Riddle [JAABlog]
UH OH! [JAABlog]
Spechler reassignment, resignation came after disparaging remarks about fellow judge's sexual orientation [Daily Business Review]

Michigan brings us today's Judge of the Day, and there's a shout-out to the University of Michigan... sort of. Rockford District Judge Steven Servaas never grew out of the middle school humor stage. Apparently, he likes to doodle on court documents and make jokes about chest size:

The State Judicial Tenure Commission is trying to force Servaas off the bench with claims he made inappropriate remarks to female court employees, drew inappropriate cartoons featuring male and female body parts on court documents, and lived outside of the area his Rockford court covers.

One of the allegations involves a remark Servaas admits making to a female court worker, Rebecca Andrus.

It involved a University of Michigan sweatshirt she wore during a November 2007 retirement party at the court's Grand Rapids Township Division and her chest size.

"I said Beck, if you are going to wear a sweatshirt like that, you need bigger chest or a smaller school, like Albion, or, I mean Alma," said Servaas.

"Do you think it's acceptable to make jokes of a sexual nature with employees and staffers?" he was asked by Paul Fisher, the attorney for the Tenure Commission.

"It wasn't sexual," Servaas replied. "It was a party and yeah, I go to a party to make jokes and hear jokes."

We go to parties to hear and make jokes too, but that's a bad one! We bet no one at the party, or in the court, laughed.

He's also in trouble for living outside of his district, showing his jock strap to female co-workers at a Christmas party, and drawing what looked like a penis on court files. He denies the doodling and says no one saw him draw it. Hmmm..... We love that this story comes to us from Wood TV.

Embattled judge takes the stand [WOODTV]