"Oh! You're REALLY a racist? That's OK then...I thought you were LYING about being a racist, and I just hate that!"
When we last left Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis, he had just sentenced a potential juror to jury duty for life because of her racist and anti-police answers on a jury questionnaire. Then many commentators, including Ethics Alarms, pointed out that punishing a woman for her views, however offensive, was an abuse of judicial power. I wrote:
“This was outrageous abuse of power by a judge, and a slam dunk First Amendment violation. Her opinions are ugly, but there is nothing illegal about having ugly opinions, and government punishment based on a citizen’s opinion is a dangerous Constitutional breach. A judge can’t dictate how a potential juror thinks or what she believes. He can’t take vengeance on a woman who is hateful, either. She has a right to her hate.”
Today the judge released the woman from the lifetime sentence, saying that it really wasn’t her racist views that angered him, but rather that she had made an obvious attempt to get out of jury duty by putting offensive answers on the jury questionnaire. “My ruling was not based in any way upon whether or not you held any racist views. It was apparent you did not tell the truth,” Judge Garaufis told the woman. “You were the only juror who indicated that you had every form of bias imaginable. You were lying to the court in order to be excused.”
Ah, It wasn’t that she was a racist, but that she pretended to be a racist.
What a minute..huh? How did the judge know that with sufficient certainty to thunder down his sentence? Why didn’t he say that was the reason when he made his original decree? Why is it so unlikely that the woman wasn’t a truthful racist rather than a lying humanist? Lots of people hold similar racist and anti-police views. Why did he think the one juror who was honest about them was worse than the many members of the pol who wouldn’t admit to such opinions, especially after hearing about his reaction?
Of course, I can’t read his mind any more than the judge can determine whether Juror 799 is or isn’t racist, but if I had to make choice as to who was telling the truth, I’d say the potential juror. I think the judge’s ethics alarm went off a little late, he realized that he had made a mistake, and didn’t quite have the guts to admit it.
For as we all know, being a Federal judge means never having to say you’re sorry. Especially to racists…er, that is, people who pretend to be racists. Right. Them.
[Note: the photo is NOT Judge Garaufis. You’d be surprised how hard it is to find a picture of a smiling judge.]
Ethics Alarms 
To find pictures of a smiling judge, go to Google Image Search and search for Sonia Sotomayor. The sheer glee in the photo on page 2, 3rd row, 2nd from the left just makes me happy.
For more understated smiles, search for Lord Denning.
You’re right—she has a great smile,
Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis says “oops!” and “never mind?”
He should be brought before his jurisdiction’s judicial disciplinary committee. And taken off the bench.
Jack,
I agree that this doesn’t change anything, but did you really not see it coming? The moment I read your first article I assumed the woman in question WAS likely lying (as using racism is considered an easy way of getting dismissed) and that the judge likely KNEW she was lying and was punishing her for trying to shirk her responsibility. Real racists often don’t consider themselves as such nor are they likely to frankly list “blacks” and “Mexicans” amongst things they hate. Even bigots are smart enough to understand their ideas are not only repugnant to many, but liable to make them unpopular, and thus keep them relatively hidden .. so why suddenly confess on a jury questionnaire? The punishment may have been unfair, but I don’t think rescinding it was the judge “covering his tracks” either.
Neil, I think that is a great leap. She didn’t write “I am a racist”—she wrote “I don’t trust blacks and Mexicans.” I can call up someone right now who will say exactly that, and believe me, he won’t be lying. How did the judge “know”? There is no way to know.
Frankly, I doubt she was lying at all. I think she was telling the truth in a setting where being a bigot had perceived benefits. Remember, I grew up with one whole side of my family being Greek immigrants and first generation Greek-Americans. They would, most of them, not only openly express their distrust of blacks and Mexicans, but also gays, divorced women, Turks, Germans, Asians, and Jews….in fact, anyone who wasn’t Greek—like my father.
On a court questionnaire? In a heartbeat.