All Judge Emmet Sullivan wanted was to alert the courthouse about an upcoming science seminar. It was exactly the sort of nice blast email that populates the inboxes of workplaces of offices across the country. Then Senior Judge A. Raymond Randolph had to barrel in with a reply all response that has the ethics folks looking into his judicial temperament.
Judge Sullivan gave everyone a heads-up about an upcoming event aimed at providing judges with a primer on the basic scientific concepts involved in climate change-related litigation. Fairly straightforward stuff about how carbon dioxide works that wouldn’t be out of place in a middle school classroom.
Judge Randolph replied to everyone that this was “nonsense” saying, “The supposedly science and stuff you are now sponsoring is nothing of the sort.”
Now, I’m not saying Judge Randolph is an ignorant dumbass — he’s actually saying that himself — but it’s an impressive display of judicial hubris to declare that, in his berobed opinion, he knows more about science than scientists. This guy is a step removed from an anti-vaxxer.
Thankfully, other judges jumped in and called Randolph’s response “accusatory” and “quite disturbing.” But what’s actually disturbing is that Randolph is actually hearing matters involving these concepts. Yet he says stuff like this:
Randolph viewed it differently, saying in his memo that judges attending a climate science program put on by the Environmental Law Institute “lend credence to one side of the climate change debate that is quite improper” because of a host of litigation on the issue.
Except it’s not a “debate” and pretending that it is requires remarkable and disienguous mental gymnastics. Ethics experts interviewed by the Washington Post indicated that Randolph should recuse himself from matters involving climate change in the interest of maintaining the appearance of impartiality. He was set to hear an appeal of the case against the EPA for rolling back emissions standards. He’s been replaced on that case, suggesting something may have happened. Whether this is a long-term fix or just Randolph laying low until this blows over remains to be seen.
A federal judge in D.C. hit ‘Reply All,’ and now there’s a formal question about his decorum [Washington Post]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.