All we know is that in this racially divided society of ours, he exercised exceptionally poor judgment by showing up in a costume that was guaranteed to piss people off. Why would he do such a thing? Hatred? No--I doubt it. If anything, he may be guilty of excessive racial naivete--precisely the opposite of the virulent racism you accuse him of.
As for his being able to set aside whatever biases he may have--I have no idea. There is a post earlier in the thread in which one of the judges said that an investigation of his case history showed no signs of bias.
Personally, I think that every human being on the planet has biases--tribalism and suspicion of people who are different from us are built into our DNA.
You're probably right - there probably is some genetic component to biases, etc. It's environmental as well.
But, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, guess what? It's probably a duck. He's a racist - whether he's a virulent racist or one who just exercises inopportune poor judgment, it doesn't matter. He's a racist and should be off the bench.
He lives in Louisiana and has served on the bench there for 20 years. Racial naivete? That's naive. It doesn't take a rocket scientist, let alone a judge, to figure out that showing up in blackface is racist.
This is res ipsa loquitor. He wouldn't have done this but for the fact that he's a racist - whether a Bobby Byrd Klan type or just a run of the mill, mock black people type - it's all racism.