The Judge to Lose His Robes! We will See! A Case About What a Judge Should Never Do!
Several weeks ago I discussed the unfortunate situation where a judge accepted a large discount to the legal fees he owed for his divorce, and started referring cases to the lawyer that granted him the discount. A panel of the Minnesota Judicial Standards Board recommended that Judge Blakely be suspended for six months. I noted that it would be more appropriate to suspend him forever, since the actions of the attorney and the judge really fall within the scope of bribery as defined in Minnesota law. I also noted that the Lawyers Board should look at the lawyer.
I am encouraged to report that the full Judicial Standards Board is now recommending to the State Supreme Court that judge Blakely be removed from the bench. The Minnesota Supreme Court will have the final say, but I think that the recommendation is proper under the circumstances. For more detail see my earlier post and the MinnLawyer Blog.
For those that are interested, here is the Board's opinion.
