Judge’s Threat to Add Lawyer to Pro Bono List Could be Seen as Punitive, 6th Circuit Says
“A federal appeals court has concluded that a federal judge’s comments about a lawyer for a bias plaintiff were ‘within the bounds of what imperfect men and women, even after having been confirmed as federal judges, sometimes display,'” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s News.
“The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Cincinnati ruled that U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman of the Eastern District of Michigan was not required to recuse himself before tossing the discrimination case against General Motors. But his threat to place the lawyer on a pro bono list ‘could easily be seen as punitive,’ the court said.”
