# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**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 16, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/81 "2009-10-16T13:52:04Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > So far as I can tell, he’s a justice of the peace, not a judge. Justices of the Peace in Louisiana _are_ judges. They handle preliminary hearings for certain criminal charges (misdemeanors) and have (extremely limited) civil jurisdiction. [QUOTE=TFD] It just occured to me that marriage is not a constitutional right in the US. [/QUOTE] Sure it is. It’s not explicitly spelled out in the US Constitution but higher courts have widely held that marriage is a fundamental (and therefore constitutionally protected) right under the 10th (and 14th) amendments. See [Loving v. Virginia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia). Of course, it hasn’t been extended to same-sex couples yet, but we’re working on it. ---
**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 16, 2009, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/82 "2009-10-16T14:06:35Z")
> [@Spiff](#): > > Yes, but a mixed race person needing a bone marrow or stem cell transplant will likely have a very hard time finding a matching donor. Yeah, there’s that. And it is also impossible to get a pedigree certification for her. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/83 "2009-10-16T14:17:54Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Ok, how do we dispose of a whole parish? According to Wikipedia, Tangipahoa Parish has about 100 K people, 70% of whom are white. Voter turnouts are usually low, so I’d be surprised if we were talking more than 25,000. Huey Long could have done it, but he wouldn’t have. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/84 "2009-10-16T14:20:11Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > For about the 848th time, the counter-culture revolution that took place in the late sixties had nothing to do with race . . . 😕 WTF?! **Of course** it did. It was about a **lot** of things, of course, and a reaction against a lot of things; but it would have been somewhat different, and probably less vigorous, if American racism had not been there to react against. It was in significant part a reaction against all traditional hierarchies in American society, including hierarchies of race as well as class, sex, age and culture. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/85 "2009-10-16T14:20:15Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > So far as I can tell, he’s a justice of the peace, not a judge. This is not to be belligerent, for clarity: exactly what distinction, other than terminological, do you see in making this distinguishment? In New York State, J.P.'s, now differentiated into Town and Village Justices, may: (a) conduct small claims court and try civil suits below a monetary cap; (b) try offenses against municipal ordinances; (c) try traffic offenses, petty penal offienses, and misdemeanors; or (d) issue arrest warrants, arraign and set bail on felony accusations. And of course (e) officiate at civil marriages. They are elected by the voters of their jurisdiction, byt may not enter into the exercise of their office until they successfully complete a training program, unless they are Bar members or have taken the training previously. And once trained and sworn in, they are regarded as the lowest tier of judges. ---
**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 16, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/86 "2009-10-16T14:23:24Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > This is not to be belligerent, for clarity: exactly what distinction, other than terminological, do you see in making this distinguishment? The term is used to identify a fairly wide ranging set of officials. JPs in New York may be judges with limited jurisdiction, but in many states (presumably including **Bricker’s** ) they’re just notaries. They _are_ members of the judiciary in Louisiana, for the record- see my post above. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/87 "2009-10-16T14:23:54Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > If you wanna talk about things that truly made the civil rights movement take off, you’re going to have to go back to the polite, well-dressed and dignified black people of the fifties and early-to-mid sixties. You know, the ones who **behaved in the same mature, adult ways that you call racist when it comes to white people.** [bolding added] Sorry, but I think I missed a step here. White people are called racist when they behave maturely? I realize that this may need it’s own thread, rather than hijacking the thread of our cracker friend from Tangipahoa Parish. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/88 "2009-10-16T14:27:27Z")
The stupid judge must also hate dogs. If he knew anything about them he would know that if you want a healthy dog you get a mutt. People that hate dogs shouldn’t be allowed to sit as judges. ---
**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 16, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/89 "2009-10-16T14:32:29Z")
[QUOTE=Attack from the 3rd dimension] Sorry, but I think I missed a step here. White people are called racist when they behave maturely? I realize that this may need it’s own thread, rather than hijacking the thread of our cracker friend from Tangipahoa Parish. [/QUOTE] Don’t bother. This **Starving Artist** drama has played out a million times in a million threads, so I’ll give you the Cliff’s Notes version: 1. **Starving Artist** says something about how everything was better in the fifties, back when “civility was still a virtue” (or something similarly inane). 2. Somebody asks **SA** if civility requires black people to sit at the back of the bus. 3. **Starving Artist** acts outraged and vehemently denies racist tendencies, sometimes demanding an apology and/or accusing the other poster of tarring all conservatives with the racist brush. 4. Other posters roll eyes. 5. **Starving Artist** makes up a statistic which proves that life was more civilized back then. 6. Third poster demands citation. 7. **Starving Artist** promises to provide one, but not right now because he’s really busy. 8. Somebody bumps thread two weeks later to ask if **SA** had time to find those cites. 9. Thread is forgotten, and the Circle of Life continues. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/90 "2009-10-16T14:48:25Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > If you wanna talk about things that truly made the civil rights movement take off, you’re going to have to go back to the polite, well-dressed and dignified black people of the fifties and early-to-mid sixties. You know, the ones who behaved in the same mature, adult ways that you call racist when it comes to white people. Hey, I think I know just what you’re saying here – it was the image of the dignified but implacable middle-class blacks and the poor blacks who had dressed up in their Sunday best for the occasion, politely but very firmly asserting their rights as against a subset of Southern whites who came across as Sheriff Buford T. Justice and his Redneck Yahoos (and not as a band name), generally live on TV, that swayed the previously uncaring heart of the nation to respect and enforce their rights. But I hope you realize that to a fair-sized set of Dopers – and to my shame it was my first reaction – what it sounds like is a racist “longing for the days when those uppity blacks knew their place.” And for that you can expect to be reviled – even though I realize it’s not what you actually meant. I am pretty much in agreement with you on the need for civility in discourse. There is a time and place for incivility, in delivering the well-deserved putdown to the most obstreperous of sociopaths. But it should be rare that it’s needed. However (and here is where I suspect we part company) this is something that each person should expect of himself, as an individual ethical obligation socially ‘expected’, not something to be enforced by incivil behavior towards the offender. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/91 "2009-10-16T14:50:24Z")
> [@Spiff](#): > > Yes, but a mixed race person needing a bone marrow or stem cell transplant will likely have a very hard time finding a matching donor. > > Now, that is. > > Maybe after a century or two of further gene mixing, things will be better in this regard. If only there was some cells that can become other cells. Maybe we could solve the issue from which this stems. Who wouldn’t be in support of doing some research into this? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/92 "2009-10-16T14:58:41Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Justices of the Peace in Louisiana _are_ judges. They handle preliminary hearings for certain criminal charges (misdemeanors) and have (extremely limited) civil jurisdiction. Interesting. I didn’t know that – in Virginia we haven’t had justices of the peace since the early 1970s; they have been replaced by “magistrates” which have limited judicial power. Magistrates can perform only the following in Virginia: [ul] [li]Issue arrest and search warrants upon showing of probable cause by a police officer[/li][li]Set bail immediately after arrest[/li][li]Issue arrest warrants upon showing of probable cause by a citizen with the approval of the Commonwealth Attorney’s office[/li][li]Issue civil summons for sheriff or constable[/li][li]Perform marriages[/li][/ul] Without checking Louisiana, I wonder if the situation isn’t similar: a JUDGE can hear felony and misdemeanor trials, for example, and a magistrate cannot; seems in Louisiana the line is drawn differently, but there is a line. They ARE judges, just limited in their powers. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/93 "2009-10-16T15:15:05Z")
Can we please pretty please for the love of god avoid turning this thread into yet another episode of the **Starving Artist** show? There’s enough ridiculous to mock without having yet another useless discussion with him. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/94 "2009-10-16T15:24:32Z")
My thanks to **RNATB** and **Bricker** for the clarification. Virginia and North Carolina Magistrates seem to have roughly equivalent powers. (I assume bail setting includes arraignment in **Bricker** ’s list – we tend to overlook arraignment, but it is the default right for which Habeas Corpus is the remedy – the right not to be jailed for more than a brief period without being confronted with what offense known to the law one is charged with violating, and the opportunity to seek bail and counsel.) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/95 "2009-10-16T15:29:48Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > Can we please pretty please for the love of god avoid turning this thread into yet another episode of the **Starving Artist** show? There’s enough ridiculous to mock without having yet another useless discussion with him. As I outlined in my response to him in post #90, I don’t think that’s what **SA** is doing here. Give him opportunity to respond, please. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/96 "2009-10-16T15:38:42Z")
Man, white people is crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/97 "2009-10-16T15:42:30Z")
Hmm, I wonder. What makes this case different from pharmacists who refuse to fill birth control or morning-after pill scripts? He’s recusing himself from performing the marriage. He’s not ruling on a case of someone else’s marriage, or passing a law which makes it illegal for them to marry, he’s just saying he won’t, personally, sign it. I can see a couple differences, one is public, one is private. A Judge/Magistrate/JotP whatever should well know about protected classes and know it will be his job to provide his services without violating these protections. A pharmacist doesn’t take an oath to support a body of laws which includes something which says refusing to fill a script is illegal. So what makes refusing to fill a script a matter of personal choice and refusing to sign a marriage certificate a matter of law? Or is there something I’m missing? Enjoy, Steven ---
**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 16, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/98 "2009-10-16T15:46:13Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > So what makes refusing to fill a script a matter of personal choice and refusing to sign a marriage certificate a matter of law? Or is there something I’m missing? Nothing. Both should be illegal. However, only one is. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/99 "2009-10-16T15:48:25Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > My thanks to **RNATB** and **Bricker** for the clarification. Virginia and North Carolina Magistrates seem to have roughly equivalent powers. (I assume bail setting includes arraignment in **Bricker** ’s list – we tend to overlook arraignment, but it is the default right for which Habeas Corpus is the remedy – the right not to be jailed for more than a brief period without being confronted with what offense known to the law one is charged with violating, and the opportunity to seek bail and counsel.) Actually no-- arraignment is conducted in General District court, presided over by a judge, not a magistrate. An arraignment proceeding may also include a bail set or bail mod motion, but it doesn’t have to. Typically the magistrate’s bail numbers are crazy high and the judge will give your guy something more reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960/100 "2009-10-16T15:48:41Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > So is anybody on this board dumb & trolly enought to jump in and defend this vile disgusting bigot? 😛 If you allow whites to marry non-whites you dilute the white race! You get just a huge pile of muddy crap. The white race needs to remain pure so that they can bestow their kindess and wisdom to the lesser races. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-louisiana-judge-who-is-apparently-stuck-in-a-time-warp/513960.md?page=6)