SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Supreme Court has suspended a city judge for making “shirty and politically charged” comments from the bench and posting “indelicate” criticism online about President Donald Trump.
Judge Michael Kwan will serve a six-month suspension without pay for repeatedly violating the Utah Code of Judicial Conduct. In his 21 years as a Taylorsville Justice Court judge, the Judicial Conduct Commission has issued Kwan two letters of education and the Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded him twice for various violations.
One of those reprimands involved Kwan’s “crass in-court reference to sexual conduct and a former president of the United States,” according to the court. The other addressed his political activities as the head of a nonprofit organization that criticized candidates online using his name and title as a judge.
“We note that previous endeavors to help Judge Kwan correct this behavior have not been successful. And we regretfully conclude that a sanction less severe than suspension without pay will suffer the same fate as our prior attempts,” Justice John Pearce wrote in the court’s opinion.
Kwan admitted to the most recent violations but contended they warranted a lesser penalty because the sanction rested, in part, on an unlawful attempt to regulate his constitutionally protected speech.
Daily Mail-
On Inauguration Day in 2016, Kwan posted: ‘Welcome to governing. Will you dig your heels in and spend the next four years undermining our country’s reputation and standing in the world? . . . Will you continue to demonstrate your inability to govern and political incompetence?’ The next month, he posted: ‘Welcome to the beginning of the fascist takeover. . . We need to be diligent in questioning Congressional Republicans if they are going to be the American Reichstag and refuse to stand up for the Constitution.’
Good for the Utah supreme court! (Mitt will probably be concerned and/or troubled.)
He and Nadler need to team up at the Golden Corral.
Leftist Mitt fits right in in progressive Utah.
“Stand up for the constitution” Yeah, as if that activist asshole ever found the constitution anything other than a irksome hurdle for him to work around while using his authority to apply his version of justice.
I’m sorry but ‘shirty and politically charged comments’??
I have never heard of the term ‘shirty’. Need to look that up.
Merriam Webster.
Shirty. Chiefly british. Angry, irritated.
Learned something new today and it isn’t even 8am.
Oh, wait! Could this be an Obozo appointee? Must be. Is this a mind that “judges” cases? Judges should not hold their positions for life. Just until the next election or suicide. What a piece…
@PHenry – Thanks for that. I thought it was a typo…
Oh my! He’s the bee’s knees!
Judge is a real piece of shirt.
Judge can you give us an example of Trump’s most over the top fascistic act?
Judge: there are so many, it’s a silly question.
Yes but give one example so we have a frame of reference.
Judge:Everyone knows he’s a fascist!
OK then how about a minor act of fascism?
Judge: you’re provoking me!
No sir I just want to understand how you arrived at your conclusion.
Judge: You’re a RACIST and HATER!!!!!
He should be hanged by the neck until dead … dead … dead.
Why does a “judge” have to be “liberal” or “conservative?”
Can’t we (not just Utah) have “judges” who actually JUDGE based on the law?
Why is that anathematic to the “legal” profession?
Rhetorical questions – I don’t expect the legal weasels to answer.
izlamo delenda est …
Made me click in to see if it was a lady or gent. Well played, sir.
What is it with fathead lefties?
Now he’s got six months to hang out with his gay buddies.
Six months without pay?
Six minutes without air would be a better sentence
Why is this guy still a Judge? After a number of official and public reprimands the best they could come up with is an unpaid suspension for a man has to have known he was thumbing his nose at authority and crossing the line a Judge should never cross (and knows it). He should have been fired or impeached or whatever you do with a rogue or criminal Judge.
if he would have cancelled one of Trumps executive orders he would be free to do whatever his heart desired.
Sum Ting Wong!
He’s got more chins than a Chinese phonebook.
Feckless, fatheaded and shirty is no way to go through life.
Looks like a fuckin’ woodchuck.
So the judge is invoking his First Amendment rights.
I once heard a story that someone was arrested for disturbing the peace by cussing out a deputy. The judge dismissed the charges because he said the defendant was protected by the First Amendment.
As the deputy left the court room, he flipped off the judge. The judge was irate. The deputy replied. “First Amendment.”
He looks like a Weeble.
Probably has an IQ to match… 🙄
Almost as fat and ugly as a Adler.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D7XLsKEXkAAqZpq.jpg
Almost😀