Judicial Ethics

I feel like it's not very often when a judge gets into ethical trouble for social reasons.  Generally, by the time a person has made it to being a judge, especially a federal judge (who must be nominated and vetted by the two other branches of the federal government), that person has learned the general rules of what to do and what not to do.  George C. Paine, a bankruptcy judge in Nashville, Tennessee, has just been reprimanded by the Sixth Circuit for being a member of a country club that does not have any full women or black members who have voting rights.  In fact, women are offered the chance to be a "lady member" for a lower price, but that lower membership carries no voting rights.  A woman raised this issue of Judicial Ethics, and the Sixth Circuit responded.  Now, in Nashville, various members of the bar who have judicial aspirations are dropping their membership to this exclusive club to ensure that they are not branded as racist or misogynistic.  The club refuses to comment, but someone with sufficient power (yes, because that's not vague) has told a judge that the club will be changing and that it has a very promising black candidate.  We're in 2011, and we're still dealing with letting blacks and women into a club . . . perhaps by next year, the Belle Meade Country Club will decide to jump about fifty years and join us in the twenty-first century.

To read more, see http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111221/NEWS03/312210083/Judges-question-Belle-Meade-Country-Club-membership-after-colleague-s-reprimand?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE