# I pit the Louisiana judge who is, apparently, stuck in a time warp **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 15, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960 "2009-10-15T22:32:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 10
**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 21, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/181 "2009-10-21T16:00:53Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > Ms., actually. There’s something in the Bible about interracial marriage? Or there’s some portion of the Bible that this person (and people like him) are using as justification for his illegal behavior? (no snark intended). The latter. There’s a bunch of stuff in the Old Testament about how the Israelites were forbidden from intermarrying with the cultures around them, like Exodus 34:10-16: > [@](#): > > “And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels … behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God; Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.” …but the modern interpretation of this prohibition is that God didn’t want his people shacking up with nonbelievers, not that he didn’t want them marrying the darkies. Plus, there’s no mention of any such prohibition among the actual laws (ie., in Leviticus). ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/182 "2009-10-21T17:23:05Z")
That’s what I assumed - that there was something about not marrying people outside of the tribe that bigots had twisted to mean not marrying outside of one’s ethnic group. That still doesn’t help me understand how people can see a denial of a marriage license as any less discriminatory as denial of educational or job opportunities. ---
**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 21, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/183 "2009-10-21T17:25:37Z")
Judge Leon Bazile invoking divine authority during sentencing in the original trial in _Loving v. Virginia_: > [@](#): > > Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/184 "2009-10-21T17:26:22Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > …if the races interbreeded, there would be no more blonds or red heads, and God wouldn’t like that. Which is wrong. Blondes and red heads will keep popping up way past the point when we are all mixed. I have photographic proof that mixed kids can be freckled gingers too. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/185 "2009-10-21T17:36:16Z")
Actually, I was just riffing back on the comment I’d pointed out about God not wanting to miss out on all the blond / red-headed goodness, but Exodus works for me too. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/186 "2009-11-04T02:32:54Z")
An update: Justice Bardwell, fuhrer of Tangipahoa Parish, [has resigned](http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jy_z-Zo4fvJEf2TK1LCiiPIe9NDwD9BOB3SG1). Side note: Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, who acceoted the resignation, [won two “dishonrable mentions” in last year’s Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest](http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/scott.rice/blfc2008.htm). ---
**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:** [November 4, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/187 "2009-11-04T03:09:31Z")
I wonder how his refusal to issue marriage licenses to interracial couples managed to stay out of the news before now - the story says he acknowledges routinely refusing such applications. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/188 "2009-11-04T04:14:32Z")
Apparently, engaged couples in Louisiana are really not all that bright. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/189 "2009-11-04T04:27:45Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > An update: Justice Bardwell, fuhrer of Tangipahoa Parish, [has resigned](http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jy_z-Zo4fvJEf2TK1LCiiPIe9NDwD9BOB3SG1). > > Side note: Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, who acceoted the resignation, [won two “dishonrable mentions” in last year’s Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest](http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/scott.rice/blfc2008.htm). How long until “Justice” Bardwell is playing the victim of political correctness on Fox News? I place the over/under at 6 days. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/190 "2009-11-04T06:13:38Z")
I’m gonna guess that’s not going to happen. It takes a certain degree of cunning and opportunism, and this guy seems like a totally clueless good old boy. Plus, even Fox and the Republican leadership aren’t dumb enough to shove an old man who preaches against race mixing in front of a mic. ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/191 "2009-11-04T10:47:35Z")
Keith Bardwell was interviewed on Early (the Early Show?) in mid-October. [Video](http://video.najoomi.com/videos/mnm0k7Mpghc/Judge-Defends-Denied-Interracial-Marriage.html). ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/192 "2009-11-04T16:16:32Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > An update: Justice Bardwell, fuhrer of Tangipahoa Parish, [has resigned](http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jy_z-Zo4fvJEf2TK1LCiiPIe9NDwD9BOB3SG1). Good riddance to him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960.md?page=9)