Tennessee Judge Should Really Leave Parenting To The Parents

// Judges are meant to enforce the law. The role is a little paternalistic, but in theory they generally don’t go overboard with it. Your odds are a little more sketchy in reality. A Tennessee judge, aiming to keep kids in school, leaned way more vinegar than honey in his approach. This was met with what you’d expect — a reprimand and his name on the front page of ATL. Legal Profession Blog has the story:

The Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct has reprimanded a general sessions court judge who had appeared on a school’s Instagram page in judicial robes declaring his intent “to really crack down on truancy problems” in the school district.

He had a specific remedy that every unexcused school absence that a kid has in school they are going to do seven hours of community service at our local recycling center.

He went on to describe Friday nights there as a “highly unpleasent [sic]  experience” and further indicated that a truant’s parents might get 10 days of jail time.

The court found that the posts violated a number of provisions of the Rules of Judicial Conduct. The judge took full responsibility and offered no excuses.

googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-top-300x250" ); });

Judges are generally removed from their school days, but I get the feeling that returning to class being known as “Trash Kid” isn’t going to do wonders for motivating showing up to homeroom. On top of that, one of the leading factors of truancy is a lack of parental supervision. Newsflash: it is very difficult to be there for your kids when they’re behind bars. Another factor, financial instability. Do you really think a truant kid will be better off in a house where mom or dad has 10 days less worth of wages, if they’re not fired to boot? As it turns out, strictly enforcing truancy laws can end up making both children and parents worse off.

Sponsored Lex Machina's Karl Harris On Success With AI Lex Machina CEO Karl Harris weighs in on the future of generative AI in legal tech, and what best positions a company for success. From Ethan Beberness  

Hopefully this sobering moment teaches Judge Steven Randolph a lesson. Also, isn’t Tennessee generally a small government state? Few things say government overreach like a judge going on Instagram shouting about how ready he is to order kids to unpaid labor and cart their parents off to jail. If you want to do something ridiculous to get the public’s attention, do it the way a judge is supposed to: cite a Bible verse to signpost how ready for theocracy you are.

School Days [Legal Profession Blog]

googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-middle-300x250" ); }); googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-storycontent-440x100" ); }); googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-in-story-youtube-1x1" ); });

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-bottom-300x250" ); }); Sponsored Sponsored Lex Machina's Karl Harris On Success With AI Lex Machina CEO Karl Harris weighs in on the future of generative AI in legal tech, and what best positions a company for success. From Ethan Beberness   Sponsored Experience AI-Powered Contract Negotiation With Ontra Tired of negotiating and managing routine contracts? Ontra makes the most of human expertise and proprietary AI assistance to automate contracts like never before. From Ethan Beberness   Sponsored NetDocuments’ Rebecca Sattin On Customer-First Approach And Future-Proofing Your Firm How a customer-focused transition from Worldox to NetDocuments sets the stage for a future of successful tech advancement. From Ethan Beberness   Sponsored InterAction+ Brings Power Of CRM Software To Law Firms Of All Sizes The only legal CRM with exclusive content from LexisNexis®. From LexisNexis® InterAction+™   Sponsored Announcing Ontra Atlas, Modern Entity Management Built for Private Equity Ontra Atlas extends Ontra’s Legal Operating System, an AI-enabled platform that digitally transforms critical legal workflows. From Ontra   Sponsored InterAction+ Brings Power Of CRM Software To Law Firms Of All Sizes The only legal CRM with exclusive content from LexisNexis®. From LexisNexis® InterAction+™   Topics

Courts, Judge Steven Randolph, Judges Behaving Badly, Tennessee, Truancy