If the measure of a good judge is impartiality, it’s probably best that Harriet Thompson remains off the bench.
The Brooklyn Surrogate Court judge was forced to step down last December pending allegations she used language denigrating people based upon their sexual identity and ethnicity. Details from a report by the Inspector General for New York are making the rounds now, and they aren’t good.
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According to the NY Daily News, Thompson, who has still been enjoying her annual salary of $210,900 while not hearing cases, is alleged to have said, “I hate these gay white men” and “being gay is an abomination to mankind.” She also allegedly referred to an openly gay judge as “fat now, from all of the evil of what he’s doing.”
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And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
On another occasion, she reportedly said, “I do not like Hispanic people. They have a deceitful trait that goes way back to biblical times. The men are always stealing, and the women are no better. They lie, steal, and use their vaginas for anything they want.”
Thompson has filed a suit seeking reinstatement, claiming to be the victim of a targeted attack from the Office of Court Administration.
“I was subjected to a retaliatory suspension as a result of protected activity I engaged in after I reported questionable and likely unlawful conduct by the public administrator responsible for administrating the estates of such decedents,” Thompson claimed in April, according to the Law Journal.
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“This case isn’t about racial bias, corruption, being a whistleblower, or anything else alleged in her filing,” court system spokesman Lucian Chalfen countered to the publication. “It is about serious misconduct on her part raising troubling questions regarding her fitness to sit on the bench.”
Thompson responded to the Daily News reporting that, “I’m entitled to my day in court, to my right of confrontation, and to my right of cross-examination. I categorically deny the allegations … You know what? It’s about integrity and character. That’s all I have. People lie, and people believe the lies.”
DBMC
Anyone who has come before her judge should get a mistrial.
G-Man
I totally agree with you!
RIGay
Agreed! Class-action lawsuit time!
James
What a hate filled loser. She should look at herself. She should not be a judge.
jt1990
I agree. Also I’m truly SHOCKED that a person of color is capable of hate and discrimination, let alone it actually happening…..
rand503
Simple test — Have two men stand in front of her and kiss. I’m sure she will reveal her true self at that point.
gregg2010
She’s not prejudice—she hates everybody.
RIGay
Was she ELECTED or APPOINTED? If elected, then this is it. If APPOINTED… impeach her sorry ass off the bench. Let her go back to sneering at people from the Customer Service Desk at Walmart.
still_onthemark
She was elected.
missvamp
when you hate everyone that’s not like you, you’re a bigot. simple- end of story.
Kangol2
She probably should resign since she’s demonstrated she cannot be fair, to anybody really. The greater tragedy is that on our nation’s courts there are so many jurists full of bias!
bachy
I am sympathetic to everyone with a career in law, from policemen to judges. Day in and day out, they are exposed to the absolute worst people in society. In hearing criminal cases, I have no doubt that Harriet Thompson has encountered some utterly horrible white gay men, Hispanic men and Hispanic women.
The problem here is attributing their evil to being white gay men, or to being Hispanic. It is the obvious failure to recognize that the majority of white gay men and Hispanic men and women are contributing, law-abiding American citizens. Her statements are bigoted, do not reflect the appropriate level of critical intelligence, and we should not be paying her $210,900/yr to be making judgements on The Brooklyn Surrogate Court.
mikenyc352
Not that racism is ever based in anything but nonsense, I find it particularly nonsensical to talk about Latinx people as being bad since biblical times. Latinx people resulted from the start of the Colombian exchange which happened millennia after the end of Biblical times.
inbama
Actually, there were no “Latinx” people prior to 2008 when that PC term for Latin Americans (which most Latinos hate) was invented.
RSD
She’s a FAKE XTIAN! Her religious “beliefs” are a tad skewed, to say the very least. ?
still_onthemark
The Iberian peninsula was part of the Roman Empire for centuries, but as soon as they stopped speaking proper Latin and started speaking that Spanish gibberish (and don’t get her started on the Portuguese), the men started thieving and the women started selling their vaginas! Yeah I vaguely recall that from Sunday school.
johncp56
I,m so sick of religious beliefs entering gov and courts, another case of the great good Christian hate on Sunday in church, let them take care of the homeless the children born already in need, if not tax their overreach, Tax them!!!!
RSD
I agree with you COMPLETELY!!!
There’s FAR too much bogus religion in our government and it’s been weaponized by the radical far right conservative republican trash and the proud nazi xtian nationalist terrorists!!!
wikidBSTN
WHOA PEOPLE!!!!! – It’s only an ALLEGATION that she said these things. She claims she did not. She is entitled to her day in court. It could be true, but it could also be a pack of lies. We DON’T know yet.
Cam
Legally religion should not be allowed as an excuse for racism or bigotry. If somebody wants to claim that, then they should be forced to prove that they live their entire lives by every word of whatever their religion is based on.
If you want to claim that you have to abide by your religious view to hate others, then you also better have no tattoos, don’t cut your hair on the sides, don’t eat shellfish, don’t where clothing of mixed fibers, don’t do anything on the sabbath day, if you’re a woman, you don’t ever speak up to try to influence the opinion of men, (Something the judge obviously doesn’t abide by)
monty clift
She’s got a face like a slapped ass just like Clarence Thomas.
Mr. Stadnick
She is hate filled and therefore not qualified to judge anything or anyone. Her hatred over rides everything.
charette8596
Yep. How is this person even qualified for this position? It’s sad that she hasn’t already been turfed.