[Xenalyte]

Two judges disagreed that Blackburne, who is black, should have been removed.

"No good reason exists to remove from the bench an outstanding jurist who has made one error in judgment," said Judge George Bundy Smith, who was in the minority and is the only black justice on the Court of Appeals. "While it is true that judges should set high standards, it is also true that judges are human and may err. An error in judgment by this judge... should not lead to removal."

Yes, Mr. Smith, looks like the Man is trying to stick it to you again. Too bad you're not a JUDGE or anything, so you could practice some hardcore judicial activism and fiat out laws you don't like.

[NonLinear]

Do not expect Justice Laura Blackburne to subscribe to Reader's Digest anytime soon.

In its upcoming February edition, the magazine named the controversial Queens judge one of the nation's three worst jurists, awarding her the dubious distinction known as the Broken Gavel Award. Blackburne, who ordered a participant in a drug treatment program out of her court through a side door in June because she did not want him arrested by a waiting detective, joined a justice from Ohio and one from Kentucky on the list.

"It's a rare day in America when a sitting judge helps a criminal suspected of a violent crime flee a courtroom to elude a detective waiting to arrest him," the magazine staffers wrote in the article. A clerk at Blackburne's chambers said the judge had no comment on the ranking.

Source: http://gothamgazette.com/community/28/news/1144

[PzLdr]

He is a judge, [Associate Judge] on the New York State Court of Appeals [our highest Court]. He was on that Court for years before retired from the D.A's office I worked in. Reliably liberal, but not one of the cutting edge 'flamers';, like the Chief Judge, Judy Kaye, or Carmen Ciparick.