Where in the world would a homophobic racist judge like this get elected? Mississippi? Alabama? Florida? Russia? Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.
But if you said "Brooklyn" or "New York City," you'd be correct.
Surrogate Court Judge HARRIETT THOMPSON gets the booby prize for violation of human rights and contempt for separation of Church and State. Not exactly the brightest light in the harbor. She's one of two (2) Surrogate Court Judges in Kings County, New York widows and orphans court, handling decedent's estates. cases. Pay is $210,000/year. Sick twist,
From LGBTQ Nation:
Judge who allegedly used gay slurs retires from the bench She admitted she made anti-gay statements but said they were protected free speech.
LGBTQ Nation
By Alex Bollinger Tuesday, January 10, 2023nchShedmitted she made anti-gay statements but said they were protected free speech.
A judge on the Brooklyn Surrogate’s Court who said that “being gay is an abomination to mankind” has agreed to resign from the bench.
Judge Harriet Thompson was suspended from her position in 2021 because of “serious allegations of bias and discrimination,” which included racist and homophobic remarks.
“I hate these gay white men,” Thompson, who is Black, is quoted as saying. She allegedly also said that “gay racist fa***ts” were “trying to ruin me and get me… Being gay is an abomination to mankind. The Holy Ghost [is] going to get them.”
She also allegedly expressed bias toward litigants with Hispanic-sounding names. “They have a deceitful trait that goes way back to Biblical times,” she is quoted as saying. “The men are always stealing, and the women are no better. They lie, steal, and use their vaginas for anything they want.”
The affidavit also alleges that Thompson targeted natives of the West Indies, overweight co-workers, fellow female judges, white women, and Black women.
The New York Daily News noted, when reporting on her removal in 2021, that Thompson made repeated unprompted remarks to a reporter about Judaism: “I don’t want to be rude because I know Shabbat will be coming soon tonight.”
Thompson denied making most of the comments, but an inspector general’s inquiry found evidence for them and filed a formal complaint last year with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct. The complaint also said that she failed to administer court matters in a timely way.
She was supposed to face a misconduct hearing next week but she reached a deal earlier this week where she agreed to step down as judge, never seek or accept another position as a judge, and stop her lawsuit against the commission.
“The conduct charged against Judge Thompson was egregious and, if established at trial, would have warranted her removal from office,” said commission administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian. “She now claims a medical condition prevents her from performing judicial duties, which opens a different path in furtherance of the public interest for her immediate and permanent departure from the bench.”
Her lawyer said that the deal has “no finding of wrongdoing” and that his client agreed to step down because of “her medical problems.” Otherwise, the lawyer said, “She would have vigorously defended herself.”
During her tenure at the bench, Thompson had several conflicts with the court’s public administrator, Richard Buckheit, who is gay. She accused Buckheit of creating a hostile workplace for Black employees and only hiring white men for temporary jobs. Buckheit said that those accusations were false and a result of Thompson’s homophobia.
The conflict led to an investigation into Thompson’s comments in front of court employees, which resulted in a December 2021 report full of accusations of biased remarks about LGBTQ+ people, Hispanic people, people of West Indian descent, and other groups.
She denied most of the comments, although she did admit to denouncing homosexuality in general. She said that that comment was protected by the First Amendment.
From New York Times:
Brooklyn Judge Accused of Making Racist and Homophobic Remarks Resigns
Misconduct claims against Judge Harriet Thompson of Brooklyn Surrogate’s Court were scheduled to be considered at a hearing next week.
Ed Shanahan and
A Brooklyn judge accused of making racist and homophobic remarks about court workers, fellow judges and others has agreed to give up her seat on the bench, officials said on Monday.
The judge, Harriet L. Thompson of Brooklyn Surrogate’s Court, was set to face a misconduct hearing next week. In a legal filing, a top New York judge wrote that Judge Thompson said that “being gay is an abomination to mankind” and that Hispanic people had a “deceitful trait that goes way back to biblical times.”
Those comments and others, most of which Judge Thompson, 67, denied making but which an inspector general’s inquiry substantiated, helped form the basis of a formal complaint filed against her last year with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
The complaint also said that she had failed to administer Surrogate’s Court matters in a timely way since taking her seat in 2019. Surrogate’s Court, sometimes called widows and orphans court, oversees matters involving the dead, such as estates, wills and trusts.
Judge Thompson notified New York’s top administrative judge in a letter last Friday that she would be retiring from her $210,000-a-year post as one of two judges overseeing the Brooklyn court as of March 1.
As part of her agreement to step down, Judge Thompson pledged never to seek or accept a judicial position in the future and to halt any litigation she had initiated against the commission.
Judge Thompson initially sought to delay the hearing next week by telling the commission she was “not medically fit to stand trial at this time.” The commission said it had responded by authorizing a second complaint saying she was medically unfit to remain in office.
“The conduct charged against Judge Thompson was egregious and, if established at trial, would have warranted her removal from office,” the commission’s administrator, Robert H. Tembeckjian, said in a statement. “She now claims a medical condition prevents her from performing judicial duties, which opens a different path in furtherance of the public interest for her immediate and permanent departure from the bench.”
Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for courts, declined to comment. An acting surrogate court judge will continue to fill the vacated seat for the time being.
Judge Thompson’s decision to retire caps a tumultuous and truncated tenure in what was to be a 14-year term. Before being elected to the Surrogate’s Court, she was a Brooklyn Civil Court judge from 2011 to 2018.
The strife grew amid a dispute between her and Richard Buckheit, the court’s public administrator, a city official responsible for handling the estates of the dead. Judge Thompson supervised Mr. Buckheit’s office.
The clash began in May 2019, when Judge Thompson, who is Black, told state court officials that, according to members of Mr. Buckheit’s staff, he had created a hostile workplace for Black employees, The Daily News reported.
She also claimed that Mr. Buckheit, who is white, hired only young white men for temporary jobs, the newspaper said.
Mr. Buckheit denied the accusations and said that Judge Thompson had made them because she was homophobic and he was gay. He could not be reached for comment on Monday.
As the clash unfolded, effectively halting the work of Mr. Buckheit’s office, the state’s top administrative judge directed the court system’s inspector general to investigate complaints about Judge Thompson’s comments in the presence of court employees.
The ensuing report, in December 2021, detailed a litany of hateful remarks against Hispanic people, white people, gay people, people of West Indian descent and others, including those whose appearance or other personal characteristics she found offensive.
“She got what she deserved,” Judge Thompson said of one member of the judiciary whose diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease had become public, the inspector general’s report found. “She smelled and had body odor,” Judge Thompson said of another, the report said.
Her comments about gay men were particularly harsh and regularly flecked with a common slur, the inspector general found. “I hate these gay white men,” the inspector general found that she had stated bluntly in one instance.
Judge Thompson said in a court filing that nearly all of the comments in question had been falsely attributed to her. She acknowledged making a derogatory remark about homosexuality generally, saying that her comment was constitutionally protected religious speech.
She was suspended with pay and forced to give up her keys and access cards to the courts shortly after the report was filed and while the judicial commission investigated.
Judge Thompson sued the court system and several officials over the suspension, arguing that the defendants did not have the authority to remove her from the bench and that she was a victim of discrimination. That litigation remained active as of Monday.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Judge Harriet Thompson’s suspension. She was suspended with pay, not without pay.
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