November 26th 2008
Apologies From Hell: Judicial Hair-Splitting Edition
Y
ou’d expect better from a state supreme court justice, but apparently Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders is pretty comfortable with shouting down the Attorney General shortly before Michael Mukasey collapsed at a speaking engagement last week.
Sanders, miffed that President Bush’s policy on detainment of jihadists didn’t align perfectly with his own Pollyanna position, stood at the dinner and loudly shouted, “Tyrant! You are a tyrant.” Mukasey collapsed long enough later that it’s probable the events were unrelated – but it was clearly a violation of judicial conduct, as the Seattle PI pointed out today:
The state’s Code of Judicial Conduct requires judges to be “dignified” toward those they deal with “in their official capacity.”
Asked if his outburst might violate that code, Sanders said: “Well, it’s so open-ended and vague, maybe someone would think that it could apply. I don’t know. I think it’s a free-speech activity. In my mind this had nothing to do with my role as a judge.”
Sanders had nothing remotely approaching an apology to Mukasey – and an apology, even if the shout-down and the fall-down may not have been at all related, would be the dignified thing for a judge to do. But all he had to apologize for is poor word selection.
Sanders said he now regrets what he did: “If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t.”
Alternatively, he wishes he had said “Tyranny” instead of “Tyrant,” “because in my mind, these policies can lead to tyranny.”
Correct. But oh, so wrong.
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