Oregon judge who refused to perform gay marriages should lose job: panel

[Little Tich]

Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters

PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - An Oregon judge who has refused to perform gay marriages and has drawn a formal ethics complaint for a raft of other issues should lose his job, a judicial commission leading an investigation into his conduct has found, court documents showed on Tuesday.

Marion County Circuit Court Judge Vance Day engaged in the "discriminatory" practice of instructing his staff to screen marriage applicants for same-sex couples and for refusing to perform the marriages and referring them to other judges, the Oregon Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability has found.

The Commission also found that Day allowed a veteran with a felony to handle a firearm, solicited and collected money from lawyers who appeared before him, and issued a veiled political threat when another judge asked him to take down a picture of Adolf Hitler in his courthouse.

"Judge Day does not appear to recognize situations that either impugn his integrity or trigger ethical violations," the Commission wrote in a 48-page decision filed on Monday with the Oregon Supreme Court.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/oregon-judge-refused-perform-gay-marriages-lose-job-210350331--finance.html

[tomm2thumbs]

1. sounds like a real piece of work, that 'judge'

"...solicited and collected money from lawyers who appeared before him, and issued a veiled political threat when another judge asked him to take down a picture of Adolf Hitler in his courthouse..."

[packman]

2. ADOLF HITLER picture? WTF

Sounds like the judge has been hitting himself in the head with his gavel too often.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

3. I'd say that his refusal to conduct gay marriage was the least of his offenses.

What judge in his right mind would put up a picture of Hitler, much less object when asked to take it down?