A New York watchdog panel says a judge who engaged in a prolonged, offensive rant after a melee erupted at a high school graduation party should be removed from office.

A New York state judge who engaged in a prolonged, offensive rant after a melee erupted at a high school graduation party should be removed from office, a judicial watchdog panel ruled.

State Supreme Court Justice Erin Gall, 53, invoked her authority as a judge to try to get uninvited guests arrested, threatened to shoot Black teenagers and bragged that her 18-year-old son had “put the smackdown” on another partygoer, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct said in its report issued Monday.

The commission found that Gall, a white Republican who has served as an elected judge in upstate Oneida County since 2012, “created at least the appearance that she harbored racial bias,” which could undermine public confidence in her integrity.

The judicial conduct panel said that “impropriety permeated” Gall’s conduct after the July 1, 2022 graduation party at a friend’s house got out of hand. “Her wide array of misconduct severely undermined public confidence in the judiciary and in her ability to serve as a fair and impartial judge,” the commission said in recommending her removal.

    • NOT_RICK@lemmy.worldEnglish
      301·
      3 months ago

      You’re not wrong, but the AP and Reuters go very far out of their way to not put value judgments in their headlines. They’re the most dry of the dry “just the facts” style of reporting.

      • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
        301·
        3 months ago

        It was profane, but that wasn’t the part that made it a big deal. She told the police to shoot the black teenagers, and when they said no we are definitely not doing that, she told them she had their back as far as protecting them if they did, and then after that said fine she would do it herself then.

        Writing the headline without that in mind, I think, is at least a little misleading.

        • jonne@infosec.pub
          11·
          3 months ago

          Yeah, I don’t think a lot of people would’ve supported her removal if she just dropped some f-bombs. The reason was the racism, and that should’ve been in the headline.

          • cm0002@lemmy.world
            3·
            3 months ago

            I know I wasn’t, until I came into the article and it was the racism part they were removing her over lol

      • CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world
        6·
        3 months ago

        But the fact is it wasnt profane unless they said “hell” or “goddamn” or something.

        Maybe vulgar to spout racist epithets, but definitely not profane.