He could have wiped it off himself without any prompting but this is a matter of religion and the judge had no authority to ask him to take it off.
Yea,I wonder what would happened to da judge if it was a yar
mulke or turban?
What? Are you kidding?
I agree. The judge had no authority to ask him to remove it. Very dangerous precedence. The FF would not be happy. (Founding Fathers).
I think the judge has the right and obligation to consider whether it would be perceived as prejudicial. His responsibility is to the judicial proceedings. The attorney did the correct thing in his response to the judge’s request. I suppose if the attorney had refused, the judge could have postponed the proceedings, or cited him for contempt. It was a non-issue and this is really a non-story.
My fiancee (non-Catholic) kept hinting at me to wipe my forehead on Wednesday evening, (”Isn’t it bad for your skin?” “It looks like dirt!”). He was not raised in the Catholic tradition and apparently doesn’t see that many people with the ashes. I found that surprising coming from that tradition, and previously living in a part of the country with many more Catholics,and particularly since I worked for 27 years in Catholic higher education and most of my former co-workers would have ashes too.
I simply explained that one usually lets them wear off naturally. He was perplexed at why I would do that, but didn’t say anything else.
The judge has the responsibility to ensure that the proceedings are fair and without unnecessary influence on the jury.