Washington’s ‘Judge Judy’ Gets Five-Day Suspension for Rude Behavior
A Washington State judge who has been compared to television’s Judge Judy has been suspended for five days for rude behavior.
Judge Judith Eiler was accused of belittling litigants and cutting them off as they spoke, while using words like “idiot” and “stupid,” according to the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The state Judicial Conduct Commission had called for a much longer suspension of 90 days.
In a 5-4 vote, the Washington Supreme Court imposed the reprimand on the King County judge, who handles mostly traffic cases and small claims. The four dissenters argued for the 90-day reprimand. One member of the majority, Justice Richard Sanders, wrote separately to say he supported a reprimand rather than a suspension, but he joined the majority to block the longer punishment.
Sanders was in the news two years ago after reports surfaced that he had yelled “tyrant” during a November 2005 Federalist Society speech by U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
Eiler had attended sensitivity training after she was was reprimanded in 2005 for similar conduct.
