All over the national media, just as though it was Gospel, is former clerk Olivia Warren's tale of abuse by deceased Ninth Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt. Ms. Warren claims that the judge routinely bagged on her ugliness and unattractiveness, questioning her ability to have actually attracted a man. She says the judge also suggested that if she had managed to land a spouse, her spouse could not have sustained an erection while looking at her.
In my experience, this is simply not how federal judges treat their clerks, nor would any federal judge I have ever seen tolerate anyone attempting to address such comments to a clerk. I am deeply skeptical about these accusations.
As yet, even in this #MeToo era, nobody has joined in to back up Ms. Warren's story, even though she asserts Judge Reinhardt harassed all his female clerks. A Jimmy Carter appointee, Judge Reinhardt was on the bench for decades. Yet, nobody but Ms. Warren has publicized such accusations against Judge Reinhardt, and she waited to do it until he was dead and could not defend himself.
Is this a case of truly shocking and aberrant behavior by a federal judge, as Olivia Warren would have it, or is it simply a case of a conscienceless opportunist making herself out a #MeToo hero/victim at the expense of a dead judge's reputation?
For the moment, I decline to join the nation's media in assuming the truth of Ms. Warren's claims, pending corroboration by the other women she says Judge Reinhardt harassed.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/13/ex-clerk-accuses-late-9th-circuit-judge-of-harassment-114817
No comments:
Post a Comment