Judge Paul Senzer of Suffolk County has some colorful opinions about what goes on in his courtroom and thankfully he shares those so we can all fairly wonder if he’s really fit for this job.
The New York Court of Appeals heard argument on exactly how to punish Judge Senzer after the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct recommended kicking Senzer off the bench based on his language in a string of emails about a family law matter he worked on as an attorney — his judgeship being part-time. Among the choice words Judge Senzer had:
According to the commission, Senzer used the B-word to describe the client’s daughter…. In another, he referred to the lawyer as “eyelashes.” Senzer also referred to a court’s attorney referee as an “asshole” and the daughter and her ex-husband as “scumbags.”
The Court of Appeals raised serious concerns about the whether or not someone deploying this language with this kind of regularity isn’t indicative of an unchecked misogyny that disqualifies him from the bench:
From Law360:
“The various words were used. You say there’s no pattern, but there is at a minimum a recurrence of the conduct,” Judge Rivera said, as Blakey tried to interrupt her to agree before being silenced. “Excuse me. A recurrence of words that are disparaging to females and using other words that are also problematic because of their profanity or body parts that they’re referring to, correct?
The continuous return to the well of sexist attacks in the email thread certainly doesn’t bode well for Judge Senzer’s attempt to reduce his punishment to a censure for being salty as opposed to removal for evincing bias.
It’s a case that becomes harder to make when the Court turns to the epithet that earned the starring role in his hearing: his reference to his adversary as a “[C-Word] on wheels.”
In arguing on Senzer’s behalf, his attorney Michael Blakey argued that “It’s not a C-word by itself. It’s a term of art: ‘C on wheels.’ Which, obviously, refers to the aggressiveness of that attorney. It’s a left-handed compliment is one way to look at it.”
Bold strategy, Cotton, let’s see if it pays off for him!
Law360 managed to get ahold of the attorney Judge Senzer was talking about and she offered some snark:
Senzer was referring to lawyer Karen McGuire in the C-word email. She offered a sarcastic reaction when contacted by Law360.
“Isn’t it every female attorney’s dream to be called a c- – – on wheels? Right?” she said, spelling out the letters for the word. “Don’t we swear our oath and say, ‘This is what I want my legacy to be’?”
In fairness, there can be some transgressive power in seizing ownership of the mantle. Part of the reason the C-word is increasingly working its way into these conversations is because “bitch” underwent a linguistic overhaul that muddied its pejorative connotation. Maybe that time will come for the C-word too, eventually, but today it’s the trump card pulled from the sexism deck.
The Court of Appeals reserved judgment, but based on the questions it doesn’t look good for Judge Senzer.
NY Judge Who Called Atty C-Word Says It Was ‘Compliment’ [Law360]
Judge’s use of the C-word could be seen as ‘left-handed compliment,’ lawyer argues [ABA Journal]