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A judicial watchdog panel has determined that a state Supreme Court justice should be removed from the bench after going on an angry, violent and offensive dog-whistle rant against Black teenagers who showed up to a graduation party that appeared on its live-stream to be open-invite when it wasn’t.
According to CBS News, New York’s Commission on Judicial Conduct said in its report issued Monday that State Supreme Court Justice Erin Gall, a white Republi-Karen who has served as an elected judge in upstate Oneida County since 2012, “created at least the appearance that she harbored racial bias” when she threatened to shoot Black teenagers who she tried (and failed) to get arrested for showing up at the party at the home of a friend of hers in New Hartford, New York, which she, her husband and her three teenaged son’s attended on July 1, 2022.
“Her wide array of misconduct severely undermined public confidence in the judiciary and in her ability to serve as a fair and impartial judge,” the commission wrote in its ruling, which recommends Gall’s removal from the bench.
Police body-cam video footage shows that the commission was actually being generous when it said Gall created “the appearance that she harbored racial bias.” The 53-year-old was careful not to use any racial slurs, but her violent intent towards Black teens—who were apparently looking for their car keys because they were trying to leave the party—coupled with her use of white people’s version of AAVE kind of says it all.
From NBC:
A large number of apparent party crashers showed up after 11:30 p.m., the panel said. Four Black teenagers arrived after learning of the party from a live video feed, and the driver then lost his car keys, the report said.
Arguments and fights broke out between invited and uninvited guests, and officers from several law enforcement agencies responded.
Police body camera footage showed Gall telling the Black teenagers, “You got to leave! You’re not going to find your keys. You got to call an Uber and get off the property.”
She then said, “Well, you’re going to get in an Uber, buddy, or you’re going to get a cop escort home. That’s how it’s happening. That’s what I’m telling you right now. That’s how I roll. That’s how I roll. That’s how Mrs. G rolls. That’s how Judge Gall rolls. We’re clearing this place out.”
Gall tried to get the police to arrest the Black teenagers for trespassing, saying, “I’ve done this for a million years. I’m a lawyer. I’m a judge. I know this.”
She also yelled at the teenagers to “Get off the property! And’s that’s from Judge Gall! I’m a judge!,” using a profanity.
The body camera footage shows that Gall alternated between complaining that the officers weren’t arresting anyone and assuring officers that she was on their side.
“Listen, but guess what, the good part is – the good part is I’m always on your side,” she said. “You know I’d take anyone down for you guys. You know that.”
Gall told police that the Black teenagers “don’t look like they’re that smart. They’re not going to business school, that’s for sure.”
She also said that if the teenagers were to come back looking for their keys, “you can shoot them on the property. I’ll shoot them on the property.”
That’s How I Roll!
Actually, I know where to start: WTF was up with all of Gall’s “That’s how I roll” nonsense? Gall sounded like white people who condescendingly try to appeal to Black people by saying corny Caucasian things like, “Hey, what’s up, my gangsta homies. Let’s go do a drive-by at the cookout and go find where the hoes at, right, my brotha?”
And I don’t think I need to explain to Black people that her remarks about how the Black teens “don’t look like they’re that smart” is coded language. What does she know about these teens besides the fact that they’re Black?
The real issue, of course, is that she was actively trying to get the cops to arrest the teens, who, again, were clearly trying to do exactly what she was demanding, which is to “get off the property”—property that she doesn’t even own, lest we forget. She also threatened deadly force against the teens if they came back to the property THAT ISN’T HER PROPERTY if they were to come back looking for their keys, which means, in front of police officers and their body-worn cameras, she threatened to shoot teenagers with the full knowledge that they were not on the property with the intent to do anyone or anything harm. (But it’s the Black teens who aren’t “that smart,” right?)
Supreme Court Karen
Source: Drew Angerer / Getty
Gall’s behavior was “as shocking as anything I have seen in my 40 years of judicial ethics enforcement,” said Robert H. Tembeckjian, the commission’s administrator and counsel.
On the night of the incident, Supreme Court Karen also boasted to police that her 18-year-old son had “put the smackdown” on another partygoer. She claimed, “My husband and son got hit first . . . but they finished. Like I taught ’em.”
After the commission’s report was released, Gall’s attorneys made the “smackdown” sound a lot more like a situation where her son got beat up and was the true victim of the melee.
“The Respondent’s son was slapped, hit, knocked to the ground, kicked in the head and body and beaten by four or more of the uninvited individuals. Her husband, in an attempt to rescue their son and stop the fight, began pulling teenagers off of the pile and was assaulted himself in the process. He sustained bruising and swelling to both ears and his shirt was torn,” her lawyers claimed in a written response to the commission’s report.
The puffed-out chest Gall had on the night of the event also seemed to shrink significantly once the investigation into her actions began.
More from NBC:
Gall testified during the investigation, saying that the violent skirmishes at the graduation party triggered memories of a 1990 assault she suffered as a college student. Julian did not dispute his client’s comments, but said she was in a “state of fear, dismay, frustration and exhaustion” when she made them.
Anyway, Gall’s attorney, Robert Julian, said Tuesday that she’ll appeal the panel’s determination.
Yeah—good luck with all that.
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