Earlier this year I reported on an incident in Washington where a superior court judge had asked all those in the courtroom to shout "Go Seahawks" before being seated. (As you may or may not recall, the Seahawks were in the Super Bowl last year. They came in second.) Dissatisfied with the response, she demanded a second, louder cheer. Having created a suitably festive atmosphere, she then sentenced a defendant to 13 years in prison for manslaughter.
Some of the spectators, in particular the stepmother of the man who died, objected to the cheer and Judge Grant later apologized, and in fact filed a judicial-conduct complaint against herself. "Although my intentions were to defuse the courtroom situation," the judge stated, "I realize now the inappropriateness of my opening comments." The AP reported this week that the state Commission on Judicial Conduct had issued the judge an admonishment, a written reprimand that is the lowest level of punishment possible, somewhat in the same way that the Seahawks administered the lowest level of punishment possible to the Steelers during the Super Bowl.
Link: AP via FindLaw.com
