Federal judge who banned female prosecutor from his courtroom won’t face discipline after giving up cases
Judiciary
Federal judge who banned female prosecutor from his courtroom won’t face discipline after giving up cases
July 10, 2024, 9:18 am CDT
A federal judge who banned a female prosecutor from his courtroom and made alleged “disparaging remarks” about female attorneys won’t face discipline for his actions. (Image from Shutterstock)
A federal judge who banned a female prosecutor from his courtroom and made alleged “disparaging remarks” about female attorneys won’t face discipline for his actions.
No action will be taken on an ethics complaint against U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes of the Southern District of Texas because he has taken senior inactive status and relinquished his cases, according to a June 12 order by the judicial council of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans.
The order didn’t name Hughes, but the document references incidents involving the judge. Chief 5th Circuit Judge Priscilla Richman signed the order, made public on the court’s website last week.
Reuters and Bloomberg Law covered the order.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes of the Southern District of Texas in Houston. (Photo by the U.S. government, PD US Courts, via Wikimedia Commons)
The 5th Circuit had criticized Hughes’ remarks in a footnote to a July 2018 opinion.
Hughes had commented after dismissing a fraud case against the owner of an adoption agency because of alleged prosecution mistakes that included withholding a document file until the eve of trial.
“It was lot simpler when you guys wore dark suits, white shirts and navy ties,” Hughes said. “We didn’t let girls do it in the old days.”
Hughes previously told the Houston Chronicle that the remark was about poorly dressed FBI agents, not attorneys.
The footnote said the remarks, made in the presence of a female prosecutor, were “demeaning, inappropriate and beneath the dignity of a federal judge.”
Hughes later permanently banned the female prosecutor from his courtroom, a decision lifted by the 5th Circuit in July 2022.
Richman said she agreed with 5th Circuit opinions finding that the judge’s conduct was improper, but there was no need to act given his senior inactive status.
See also:
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