9th Circuit judge appointed by Trump faces misconduct inquiry over parking lot incident
This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.
Set us as preferred A dust-up over a parking spot in Idaho has prompted a judicial misconduct inquiry into a member of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.Judge Ryan D.Nelson, a Trump appointee and fierce defender of presidential power, was charged with misdemeanor battery and malicious destruction of property in connection with an apparent spat with another driver in Idaho Falls in late April.
Video of the confrontation appears to show Nelson idling in a snowy strip mall parking lot in his gray Dodge Ram when another driver in an even larger pickup pulls in beside him.Nelson is parked at an angle.
The second driver struggles to get out.The footage, published by the Idaho State Journal, shows that an exchange of expletives ensued.
At one point, Nelson appears to snatch the other driver’s sunglasses from his forehead and heave them across the parking lot.Moments later, he runs to the spot where the shades landed and appears to stomp on them.
Nelson pleaded not guilty to a pair of misdemeanors in connection with the altercation.His lawyer did not immediately respond to request for comment.
After reports of the incident surfaced in June, Chief Circuit Judge Mary H.Murguia ordered an inquiry into judicial misconduct — a charge that could land Nelson with an official reprimand or other penalty.
Murguia then asked the country’s top judge, U.S.Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, to take the case out of the 9th Circuit, a procedural move to protect the judges’ working relationships and ensure the outcome is untainted by personal bias.
“The active judges interact all the time, so it wouldn’t be fair, and it would be awkward, and it wouldn’t be good for collegiality,” said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.On Wednesday, Roberts moved the inquiry to the 4th Circuit, headquartere...