Posted on 01/06/2017 9:23:57 PM PST by nickcarraway
The Hamilton judge who wore a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat in court has been banned from trying cases
Justice Bernd Zabel, who declared his support for Donald Trump in court, is no longer presiding in court, according to a spokeswoman for the Ontario Court of Justice.
A Hamilton judge who wore a “Make America Great Again” hat to court the day after the U.S. election and declared his support for president-elect Donald Trump is no longer hearing cases.
Justice Bernd Zabel, appointed to the bench in 1990, stopped being assigned new cases on Dec. 21, 2016, a spokeswoman for the Ontario Court of Justice told the Star in a brief statement Thursday.
“I am not able to provide other details. The Chief Justice is not able to comment further on this matter,” said spokeswoman Kate Andrew.
As first reported by The Globe and Mail, Zabel showed up for court the morning after the Nov. 8 election wearing a red “Make America Great Again” ball cap. The Globe reported he then placed the hat on the bench in front of him. Critics said this showed a lack of impartiality, crucial to the role of a judge.
Almost a week later, Zabel apologized for wearing the hat, acknowledging in court that it was a “lapse in judgment” and “a breach of the principles of judicial office.” He said it was his attempt at humour.
“This gesture was not intended in any way as a political statement or endorsement of any political views, and, in particular, the views and comments of Donald Trump. I very much regret that it has been taken as such,” he said.
But the sincerity of his apology came into question when the Star obtained a transcript showing that Zabel explicitly said he supported Trump in court on Nov. 9.
“Brief appearance with the hat. Pissed off the rest of the judges because they all voted for Hillary, so. I was the only Trump supporter up there but that’s OK,” Zabel said just before court closed, according to the certified transcript.
Following the reports of Zabel wearing the hat, a number of individuals and organizations, including the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, made formal complaints about the judge to the Ontario Judicial Council, which has the power to investigate judges’ conduct and suspend them or recommend to the Attorney General that they be removed from office.
The council has yet to indicate the outcome of those complaints.
“It’s clear that the Office of the Chief Justice has taken the complaints seriously,” said lawyer Daniel Brown, a Toronto director of the CLA.
“It’s an appropriate response given the nature of the complaints and should continue until a full investigation is complete.”
Counsel with cases before a judge who’s no longer presiding in court must wait for direction from the Crown’s office, Peter Boushy, a Hamilton defence lawyer noted, but declined to speak specifically about the Zabel matter.
A case could be reheard or continue with another judge handling the proceedings, Boushy said.
All complaints filed to the Ontario Judicial Council are assigned to a two-person subcommittee made up of a judge and a community member for a private investigation.
The resulting report is then put before a four-person panel for review.
From there, the complaint can be dismissed, referred to the Chief Justice of Ontario (who will speak to the judge), or examined in a formal public hearing.
There’s no timeline for when the panel must reach a decision.
If a judge is found to have committed professional misconduct by the judicial council, possible sanctions include a reprimand, suspension or recommendation to the Attorney General that the judge be removed from office.
We need a wall on our northern border, too.
Well seriously on a somewhat related topic.
Please pray for me and my (musical, not wickedness) partner Ronnie, that we DO raise a successful Christian tribute to MAGA. It’s been requested of us. We’re busy making it into reality. Not sure if it can be dished (i.e. distributed) right at the inauguration time, but if not, then it will be close afterwards.
My brother has a broken record mind about this. I tried to share the good news about a little brother he had long disdained, and who he had just barely helped compared with his resources. His thoughts? Little brother is begging him to chip money into this. Heavens NO! If this is what it bids fair to be, it won’t need his money. It’ll get the support of fans across the whole USA. And we won’t have to spend money coaxing it because it will be such an obvious natural for the times.
But if he he wore a Hillary-> pin he probably would have been applauded.
It’s a damned Canadian court. What’s Donald Trump got to do with any case?
We think of Canada as a pro-West, freedom loving country but there is a deeply ingrained Marxist presence that most Americans never know about, from Vancouver, British Columbia as a whole, parts of Alberta (a lot was NDC territory for a long time); Quebec where they hate everyone who is not “French”; McGill University, the Patrice Lumumba University’s Canadian counterpart; the Castro loving Trudeau’s and the Canadian Communist Party, plus a few minor red parties and factions.
Canadian free speech and libel laws are almost as totalitarian as those in England and the Netherlands.
Just ask talk show host Mark Steyn.
I think Canada being a crap hole refers to their fascism as shown in the article, as well as, their persecution of Christians and morality. It is a cesspool of envy and hatred. Does Canada even have real elections? Oh yes, as long as they fit the mold they can run. A hell of a lot more people go to airports in the USA without getting shot than in canada...and they don’t have to put up with Canadian nonsense.
Hillary and obama hats accepted
what a feeble response...you had your bullshit called and this was the best you could muster...pathetic
That’s what I thought was odd - I’m assuming it should have said the other judges were all rooting for Hillary.
I live just outside Hamilton. All of Ontario is pretty far left. I was having a coffee in a McDonalds about a year ago and overheard some nice old chap talking to his friend, stating his support of Trump. I near fell off my chair.
Appears Canada doesn’t have a “First Amendment” right either.
“The tyranny of the Left want to Make America Irrelevant Permanently.”.......
Going to be an uphill battle for the left now that Trump has taken the wheel. I am sooooooooooo looking forward to what the next 4, and hopefully 8 years will bring to Make America Great Again!
Definitely Ontario.Hamilton is a major city you pass through on the QEW on the
way to Toronto.
Mark Steyn really had some problems in Canada re free speech issues.
” but I doubt you would get the message”
Oh I believe I get the message. Canada is the “other Remora” attached to America’s ass (the first being Mexico). You’ve been “sucking while you’re clucking” about the country that gives yours “life” for most of my life. You have the “Ontario Cartel” that presumes to decide for the rest of you how you will live. You have “free speech councils” that dane what you can and cannot say with the power to jail you if you don’t comply with their edicts. You are a hair’s breadth away from gun confiscation ( a la your Australian “buddies”), and you have the effing, worthless French in Quebec pi$$ing on the rest of you. I could say more, but I think that’s a good start on responding to “your message.” Aye!
Originally Section 13 only applied to telephone answering machines, where people could leave an outgoing “hate” message. The CHRC ( Canadian Human Rights Commission) took it upon themselves to reinterpret Section 13 and claim that the entire Internet was in their jurisdiction. Typically they went after people who could not afford the legal fees and ran with a 100% conviction rate. Then , with their arrogance , they accepted a ‘hate’ complaint against Macleans Magazine and Mark Steyn. This coincided with a ‘hate speech’ complaint against Ezra Levant for publishing the Danish cartoons of Mohammed.
Newspapers and magazines across Canada denounced the CHRC and Section 13. Consequently Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act was repealed by the Conservative Harper government in 2013.
I remember writing to Harper over this issue. I received a email back from him about 5 days later, expressing his concern and informing me he had forwarded my letter to the Attorney General of Canada.
At he same time I had written to my then local Liberal Member of Parliament for Ottawa South David McGuinty . He replied to me also. Asking that I prove I lived in his riding.
I am thinking you could not argue what I said...it is true afterall...so you made up some cheap shots...doesn’t say much for you yeah eh?
So let’s talk about Ginsburg wearing her “dissent collar” on the day after the election.
So how could the judges who got “pissed off” at said defrocked judge have “voted for Hillary”(quoting from the story)? They were all Canadians, including our story’s protagonist....right? Did they all slip into Detroit and illegally vote?
As a tangent to my last post...perhaps the 2.9 million voters for Hillary who voted in excess of Trump’s total votes were mostly Canadians....hey if the CIA can make stuff up about Russian hackers.....?! Just sayin’!
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