Courts

Fifth Circuit Gives Well-Deserved Benchslap To Trial Judge Over Sexist Remarks

Yeah. F this guy.

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Judge Lynn N. Hughes

The specifics of the case in question really don’t matter. The federal prosecutors missed discovery deadlines and withheld certain evidence until the eve of trial and the trial judge, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes, felt the need to dismiss the charges with prejudice. As it turns out, the Fifth Circuit disagreed with that call, saying a continuance was a sufficient remedy for the issue. That could have been it. That should have been it. But… it wasn’t.

See, the lead prosecutor was a woman. And in the course of eviscerating her over the mistake (saying, “You’re supposed to know what you’re doing. You’re supposed to be the one thinking of stuff.”), he then seemed to attribute the error to that fact that she’s a “girl.”

“It was a lot simpler when you guys wore dark suits white shirts and navy ties . . . we didn’t let girls do it in the old days.”

You know what? F*ck this guy. (And, of course he has a long history of saying inappropriate things in court.) How the hell is any professional woman in his courtroom supposed to take that statement? Judge Hughes is making a pretty clear statement that a courtroom is better off without women there. Yeah. F*ck this guy.

As reported by Texas Lawyer, in overturning the substantive holding, the Fifth Circuit’s decision also went out of its way to benchslap Judge Hughes’s wildly inappropriate comments:

And in a footnote, Judge Edith Brown Clement pointed out that Swenson’s lawyer contended during oral argument that “the record is ambiguous and perhaps the district court was speaking not to prosecutors, but to other women present at the hearing.”

“Regardless, such comments are demeaning, inappropriate and beneath the dignity of a federal judge,” Clement wrote in the footnote.

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Here’s what’s utterly unambiguous — no matter if Hughes was speaking to the prosecutor or some other woman at the hearing — he thinks things were better (“simpler”) when women weren’t allowed in his courtroom. Like I was saying: f*ck this guy.

In addition, the Fifth Circuit made the unusual move of directing the case be transferred to another judge on remand. That’s good — great, even. The judge should be shamed for his comments — but what happens the next time a woman has to appear before this joker? Even if he’s smart enough to keep his mouth shut, you still know he resents your presence. If you’re a party to a case that has any gendered elements at all to it, and this is the judge you’re assigned… all of a sudden a settlement, regardless of the terms, seems like a better option. And what partner — with their own zealous representation of the client at the forefront of their mind — is going to let a woman associate have their first opportunity to speak in court in Judge Hughes’s courtroom?

Hughes’s comment reveals a bigger gender animus than a mere benchslap can cure.

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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