Courts

After Career Of Holding Others Accountable, Judge Evades The Judicial Qualifications Commission

Fine line between surrender and victory.

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963885While lawyers get their fair share of “belonging at the bottom of the sea” jokes, judges are generally lauded for their good judgment. That’s why as bad as it is for lawyers to point guns at people protesting police brutality, there’s something especially bad about a judge firing off an AR-15, putting it to a cop’s head in a drunken rage, and then asking the officer to turn off the camera. A normal person would be looking down the barrel of several years behind bars for such behavior — imagine how much time a person trusted to right wrongs would face for such endangerment? As it turns out, they get suspension with pay and a dignified version of “You can’t fire me, I quit!” From the ABA Journal:

Former Chief Magistrate Judge Gerald W. Johnson of Habersham County, Georgia, resigned in January shortly after a hearing panel of the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission recommended his removal.

In an Aug. 16 decision, the Georgia Supreme Court said it was dismissing the ethics case.

“Removal from office is the only sanction the JQC seeks, and we cannot remove a former judge from an office he no longer holds,” the state supreme court said.

Johnson joins the ranks of several other judges who quit before facing the other side of the gavel, like former judge Kozinski after one sexual harassment charge too many, Donald Trump’s sister and former judge Maryanne Trump Barry after an ethical inquiry over some criminal financing, and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh who shouldn’t have been held accountable for something he did during his tenure on a lower court because he “graduated” to the Supreme one.

Man, the last time I saw this many washed-up bad actors in one place, I was watching the Charlie Sheen roast.

Much like the C-list “celebrities” from above (and by that, I mean Anthony Jeselnik), you shouldn’t expect to see Johnson in the limelight any time soon.

The state supreme court said the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission could reinstate the ethics charges against Johnson if he becomes a judge or a judicial candidate in the future.

You had a good run, Johnson! And if you ever think you got the wrong end of the stick, just think about how much better a shake you got than a person who came before your gavel and did the exact same thing. Spoiler: it would have been far worse than paid leave and dipping out on their own terms. Maybe you could devote some of your post-judge life to legal reform? There are people behind bars in Georgia right now for marijuana possession which, on average, poses less of a threat to the general public than shooting blindly and putting a gun to a cop’s head.

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Judge Who Pointed AR-15 At Officer Avoids Ethics Case With Resignation [ABA Journal]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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