‘Judicial Vote Reconsideration’

It is hard to believe that Johnson is really worried that the voters will have difficulty distinguishing Chief Justice Bird from Justices Reynoso and Grodin.

It’s easy to tell them apart. They’re men, and she’s a woman. The academic attacks on Bird are not about “moderation,” “impartiality,” or “unbiased judgment.” They are about sexism. Perhaps we should thank Prof. Johnson for clarifying this point.

No male appellate court judge has ever been subjected to the kind of criticism that academics have used against Bird in the effort to get her out of office.

Experts, unaware of their own sex biases, have invented a set of standards to which Bird alone has been held accountable. Then these scholars expect us to believe that this unprecedented attack was nothing to do with the fact that its target is the state’s first woman Supreme Court justice.

The real tragedy is that legal scholars, who should have been the first to work to keep the judiciary independent, have joined the campaign of hysteria, half-truths, and just plain lies, which threatens to destroy one essential branch of government.

And sexism is the link.

JUDITH BAER

Upland