# Fuck you, Judge Littlejohn **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 7, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326 "2010-10-07T03:09:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/61 "2010-10-07T16:38:59Z")
[ > [@Judge Littledick](#): > > Lampley shall purge himself of said criminal contempt by complying with the order of this Court by standing and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in open court. ]([http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US\_JAILED\_OVER\_PLEDGE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-10-07-12-08-26](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_JAILED_OVER_PLEDGE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-10-07-12-08-26)) That’s from the contempt of court order written after Mr. Lampley was jailed. And for those of you who might actually live in Mississippi, it looks like y’all really like this guy. You’ve been dealing with him for many years now (he’s a former state lawmaker, and in his 2nd term as a judge), and it looks like you’ll have at least a few more years to deal with him, too (he’s running unopposed). ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/62 "2010-10-07T16:44:11Z")
Well, unless you count the first amendment. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/63 "2010-10-07T17:10:11Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > That said, yeah, the judge is an asshole. What is the actual punishment for a government official who violates someone’s first amendment rights? I’m thinking “High Treason”. That would be a good place to start. I hope the lawyer hangs tough and this gets blown into a national flap. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/64 "2010-10-07T17:30:00Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > What is the actual punishment for a government official who violates someone’s first amendment rights? I’m thinking “High Treason”. Not treason. But depending on how this plays out, serious consequences are possible. A few that come to mind: 1. A civil lawsuit based on 42 USC 1981, or 1983–one of the civil rights statutes. There are differences between them, and I can never remember which is which. 2. A complaint to the Judicial Performance Commission, which is something like the disciplinary committee for lawyers. Possible sanctions could range from a private reprimand (I think) all the way up to removal from the bench. 3. In theory, I think a criminal charge for a civil rights violation is also possible. A felony conviction would also require removal from the bench and disbarment. 4. The Judge may resign, with or without an agreement to drop the matter if he does. Also possible is the Judge and the lawyer may have the equivalent of a “beer summit” and resolve the matter privately. Being somewhat familiar with small town practice, I think this may be the most likely outcome. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/65 "2010-10-07T17:32:46Z")
Don’t judges have sovereign immunity from criminal prosecution? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/66 "2010-10-07T17:39:08Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Don’t judges have sovereign immunity from criminal prosecution? [This federal judge](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20018641-504083.html) doesn’t think so. Neither does [Bobby Delaughter](http://articles.cnn.com/2010-01-04/justice/mississippi.medgar.evers.prosecutor_1_byron-de-la-beckwith-corruption-probe-civil-rights?_s=PM:CRIME) I think there are some instances when immunity applies, but I’m not sure if this would fall into that category or not. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/67 "2010-10-07T17:56:34Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > > [@Zeriel](#): > > > > What is the actual punishment for a government official who violates someone’s first amendment rights? I’m thinking “High Treason”. > > Not treason. But depending on how this plays out, serious consequences are possible. A few that come to mind: > > 1. A civil lawsuit based on 42 USC 1981, or 1983–one of the civil rights statutes. There are differences between them, and I can never remember which is which. > > 2. A complaint to the Judicial Performance Commission, which is something like the disciplinary committee for lawyers. Possible sanctions could range from a private reprimand (I think) all the way up to removal from the bench. > > 3. In theory, I think a criminal charge for a civil rights violation is also possible. A felony conviction would also require removal from the bench and disbarment. > > 4. The Judge may resign, with or without an agreement to drop the matter if he does. > > Also possible is the Judge and the lawyer may have the equivalent of a “beer summit” and resolve the matter privately. Being somewhat familiar with small town practice, I think this may be the most likely outcome. I’d go for any (or all) of the first three remedies. No beer summit, because I’m vengeful. I’d want a judge who did that to me, to pay. No chance to just retire, unless it meant his retirement, or pension or whatever he was getting, is revoked. Lawsuit, removal, and federal criminal charges sound good to me, and I think there could be a federal case. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/68 "2010-10-07T17:58:47Z")
I’d like to see an investigation too because I wouldn’t be surprised if there have been more breaches of judicial conduct in his past. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/69 "2010-10-07T18:04:15Z")
> [@](#): > > This federal judge doesn’t think so. > > Neither does Bobby Delaughter > > I think there are some instances when immunity applies, but I’m not sure if this would fall into that category or not. Neither of those gentlemen appear to have been acting within the bounds of their offices at the time they committed their respective crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/70 "2010-10-07T18:05:56Z")
I’d like to see him get rattled a bit for this, aye, but the article I quoted in post #61 has one lawyer seeing the whole thing as just becoming water under the bridge. > [@](#): > > Atwood said Lampley could file a complaint with Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance, but the best way to handle the situation was to “educate the judge on why he shouldn’t do it again.” I say, yeah, educate him with a job loss. That should teach him _real good_ not to ever fucking do this again. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/71 "2010-10-07T18:36:32Z")
> [@Gukumatz](#): > > **Mod Note:** > > _Ahem_ > > Stop this idiotic bloody hijack and take it to it’s own thread. > > Thank you! My apologies to the affected, the cursing was uncalled for. The request to take the hijack into it’s own separate thread wasn’t, as it was seriously derailing the thread, so that part stands. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/72 "2010-10-07T18:38:29Z")
What cursing? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/73 "2010-10-07T18:44:25Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > What cursing? The “bl\*\*dy”. **Guku** ’s Yurpeen. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/74 "2010-10-07T19:23:13Z")
> [@Gukumatz](#): > > > [@Gukumatz](#): > > > > **Mod Note:** > > > > _Ahem_ > > > > Stop this idiotic bloody hijack and take it to it’s own thread. > > > > Thank you! > > My apologies to the affected, the cursing was uncalled for. “Bloody” isn’t really swearing, unless there’s a very elderly Dowager Duchess in the room. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/75 "2010-10-07T19:48:31Z")
_ahem_ You called? ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/76 "2010-10-07T20:41:40Z")
Oh, great. RNATB has apparently fallen three thousand feet and then hit by a subway train **again**. Don’t worry folks, it’ll wear off in time for the denouement. (French for “when we finish off the supervillain.”) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/77 "2010-10-07T20:43:18Z")
Mind my bustle. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/78 "2010-10-07T20:57:42Z")
The depressing thing is not just that this happened, but that there are probably quite a lot of people in America who think like [this guy](http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/oct/07/lawyer-jailed-refusing-recite-pledge-allegiance/) about the whole incident: > [@](#): > > Yet Lampley’s silence infuriated some in the small town of Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis with a population of about 35,000. > > “I thought he was a disgrace to the United States,” Bobby Martin, a 43-year-old self-employed maintenance worker, said of Lampley. “If he can’t say that in front of a judge, he don’t deserve to be here” in this country. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/79 "2010-10-07T21:08:58Z")
Even beyond this particular case, the judge sounds like a [real peach](http://www.alternet.org/story/148439/mississippi_judge_jails_defense_attorney_for_refusing_to_recite_pledge_of_allegiance): > [@](#): > > In 1974, when a 21 year-old black man was gunned down by police in Byhalia, Mississippi, local activists with the Marshall County United League criticized law enforcement’s response to the killing. Members of the league distributed pamphlets criticizing Littlejohn, who was then the District Attorney. They called a hearing into the shooting a “farce,” and accused Littlejohn of “acting as defense attorney for the officers rather than as prosecutor,” according to a 1978 ruling by a federal appeals court. > > In response, Littlejohn then used a grand jury to launch a legal witch-hunt against the group, investigating its finances and organizational leadership. The Marshall County United League sued, and a federal appeals court concluded that Littlejohn had acted “in bad faith for the purpose of harassing those who, in the exercise of their First Amendment rights, had criticized defendant Littlejohn.” In issuing an injunction preventing Littlejohn from pursuing his investigation further, the justices characterized the case as an “abuse of the grand jury process [that] cannot be tolerated in a free society." Charming. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326/80 "2010-10-07T21:11:16Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > How is that even legal? The South just even bothering with the Constitution anymore, I guess. As a southerner I very much resent (the damned near complete accuracy of) that remark about our conservative officials. This reminds me of when a few years ago a Jewish kid in Troy, Alabama was physically forced to bow his head in a Christian prayer by a school official. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-judge-littlejohn/556326.md?page=5)