Judge Edith Jones
Earlier this month we heard that 5th Circuit Court Judge Edith Jones
had given a remarkable private lecture in which:
Jones is accused of saying that certain "racial groups like African-Americans and Hispanics are predisposed to crime," and are "prone to commit acts of violence" and be involved in more violent and "heinous" crimes than people of other ethnicities.
The complaint also states that Jones said defendants' claims of racism, innocence, arbitrariness, and violations of international law and treaties are just "red herrings" used by opponents of the death penalty, and that claims of "mental retardation" by capital defendants disgust her. The fact that those defendants were convicted of a capital crime is sufficient to prove they are not "mentally retarded," the complaint alleges Jones to have said.
That wasn't all. She dissed the entire Mexican legal system and said the death penalty is a service to those on death row because it spurs them to make peace with God before they are executed. Jones also said in her lecture that "any Mexican National would rather be on death row in the United States than in a Mexican prison." She has long been known for wanting to speed up executions.
Her remarks have now landed her a formal ethics review,
care of Chief Justice John Roberts:
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday took the rare step of ordering a review of a powerful federal judge accused of making denigrating statements against minorities and people with mental disabilities.
Roberts formally ordered the District of Columbia circuit court to review the complaints against Judge Edith Jones of Houston, who sits on the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Now if we could get Roberts to do something about the stuff Antonin Scalia says, we'd be in business.
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