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SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Supreme Court suspended a city judge for making "ridiculous and politically laden" comments and publishing "indelicate" criticism of President Donald Trump online.
Judge Michael Kwan will serve a six-month suspension without pay for repeated violations of the Utah Code of Judicial Conduct. During his 21 years as a Taylorsville Court Judge, the Judicial Conduct Committee sent two letters of education to Kwan and the Supreme Court publicly reprimanded him twice for various violations.
According to the court, one of the reprimands concerned "the gross reference made by a court to sexual behavior and to a former president of the United States". The other spoke of his political activities as head of a non-profit organization that criticized candidates online using his name and title of judge.
"We note that previous attempts to help Judge Kwan correct this behavior were unsuccessful, and we regret to conclude that a less severe sanction would be the same as our previous attempts. Judge John Pearce said in court. .
Kwan admitted the most recent violations but said they deserved less, as the punishment was partly based on an illegal attempt to regulate his constitutionally protected speech.
In its opinion, the Supreme Court quotes rules of judicial conduct stating that a judge must not engage in political activities contrary to independence, integrity or impartiality of the court.
Kwan's lawyer, Greg Skordas, said that a judge's political statements were not necessarily forbidden, but that the court had not dealt directly with the issue of freedom d & # 39; expression.
"That's the sort of thing that the Supreme Court found, at the very least, which made them uncomfortable, to think that a judge sitting would do that and that was really part of the problem. here, "he said.
Skordas has described Kwan as a "popular judge" and a "charming man" and hopes that Taylorsville can find someone to fill in his absence.
"It can be argued that he allowed his political thoughts to override him and that the Supreme Court reprimanded him for that and that the blame was severe enough," he said.
During an exchange with a defendant at a hearing in January 2017, Kwan embarked on a commentary on Trump's immigration and tax policies. Apparently late in paying his fine, the defendant told Kwan that he would pay after receiving his tax refund.
Kwan asked if the accused would get any money.
"I pray and cross my fingers," says the man.
Kwan replied, "Okay, prayer might be the answer because he just signed an order to start building the wall and that there is no money to do it. So, if you think you're going to collect taxes this year, uh- but do not worry, there's a tax break for the rich, so if you earn more than $ 500,000, you'll get more money. 39, a tax reduction.You are right, is not it? Do you have a plan? Other than just getting the tax break and paying it?
Kwan, according to the opinion of the Supreme Court, contends that the comment was intended to be funny, not rude.
"It's an immutable and universal rule that judges are not as funny as they think.If someone laughs at the joke of a judge, there is a good chance that laughter was dictated by the power dynamics of the audience room and not by a sincere belief that: the joke was funny, "wrote Pearce.
In 2016 and early 2017, Kwan repeatedly posted comments and shared articles on Facebook and LinkedIn on Trump.
"With respect to Donald Trump, Judge Kwan's positions were loaded with direct and sometimes indelicate criticism," wrote Pearce.
Kwan published an article in the Washington Post titled "Ghazala Khan: Trump criticized my silence. He knows nothing of the real sacrifices ", in July 2016. Above the title of the article, he added" Checkmate ".
In November 2016, three days after the presidential election, "thinks Judge Kwan, I think going to the shelter to adopt a cat before the president-elect seizes them all …", says the opinion of the courtyard.
On the day of Trump's inauguration in January 2017, Kwan wrote, "Welcome to rule. Will you go out and spend the next four years undermining the reputation and reputation of our country in the world? … Will you continue to demonstrate your inability to govern and your political incompetence? "
In February 2017, Kwan wrote: "Welcome to the beginning of the Fascist takeover" and "We must … ask questions diligently to Congressional Republicans if they want to be the American Reichstag and refuse to defend the Constitution." , refuse to respect their oath and allow tyrants to consolidate their power ".
"Again, there are illustrative examples – and not of a complete recitation – of comments and articles shared online by Judge Kwan and referring to Donald Trump and a series of Other topics discussed between the middle of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, "wrote Pearce.
The court found that Kwan's assignments gave the impression that he did not believe that the rules of judicial conduct applied to him.
Pearce wrote that the main concern was not that Kwan express his point of view on political issues by criticizing Trump. "More importantly, Judge Kwan implicitly used the esteem associated with his judicial duties as a platform for criticizing a candidate for elective office," he wrote.
The penalty imposed on Kwan also stems from the treatment of his clerk after learning that a member of the administrative staff had been promoted without his participation.
Kwan confronted the clerk in an "angry" and "screaming" manner, according to court documents. Shortly thereafter, he wrote a notice of disciplinary action, threatened to suspend her without notice pending termination, and ordered her escorted out of the building.
The recipients of Kwan's e-mail understood that it was a court order in part because the e-mail included a signature block indicating it as such. Kwan argued that the signature block was not intentional, but the Judicial Conduct Committee did not find this statement credible.
Whenever an officer commits a fault, he spends the goodwill of all of the justice, wrote Pearce, adding, "We readily conclude that Judge Kwan has spent our goodwill."
contributing: Marc Giaque, KSL Newsradio
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