Could Kent lose his bench?

[douglas9]

Source: Houston Chronicle

GALVESTON — For 17 years, U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent presided like a king over his court in Galveston, using the power of his pen to write sharply worded opinions that struck lawyers and litigants like lightning.

In 1993, he said lawyers offered "half-baked, hair-brained theories" that were "illogical, insupportable, nonsensical and some even extremely outlandish."

In 1996, he ridiculed a request to move a case to Houston: "Defendant will be pleased to discover that the highway is paved and lighted all the way ... (and) free of rustlers, hooligans or vicious varmints."

His words earned the judge a national reputation in law schools and on blogs as a jokester and bully. But it's his behavior in chambers that has landed the jurist in serious trouble today.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5194039.html#

[n2doc]

1. Welcome to DU!

Yet another republick sleasebag Judge. Seems like an inexhaustable supply out there.

[Doctor_J]

2. He will probably pull a Slappy Thomas and blame it on the media

and the hatred for white males that drives the country.

[Bitwit1234]

3. Again what is it??

What is it I ask about republicans that they continually speak out against sexual behavior of all kinds, and then they are found guilty of the same type of sexual behavior they spout off the most about. AND have you ever seen as many sexual perverts, of all kinds, as in the republican party

[Judi Lynn]

4. This doesn't sound like anything minor, but he might sail right through it, anyway.

It's really not that long ago, that no one would have known about his unprofessional conduct beyond the reach of public scrutiny, or, if they knew, would have done anything about it. From the article:

The episodes of alleged abuse began a decade ago and involved at least three employees, according to interviews with two women and with attorney Rusty Hardin, who represents the third.

In the most recent incident, the judge was accused of inappropriately touching a female case manager in his chambers in March.

Kent's cases were removed during the investigation, and he received a four-month paid leave of absence as part of his punishment. He continues to draw his $165,000 annual salary.

His accusers have criticized the leave as an undeserved paid vacation.

Kent and his attorney have not responded to repeated requests for interviews.

The harassment complaints against Kent are unprecedented in scope in the federal judiciary and among the most serious faced by any judge disciplined in recent years, according to Marina Angel, a Temple University law professor who authored a national study of sexual harassment among judges in 1991.
(snip)