Althouse: "Judge Block once told a defendant of Asian origin that, if he skipped bail, the judge would 'have egg foo yong on my face.'"

July 4, 2025

"Judge Block once told a defendant of Asian origin that, if he skipped bail, the judge would 'have egg foo yong on my face.'"

"He told a Black prosecutor in 2015 that it was 'good to see so many dark faces in the courthouse,' and called a discrimination case a 'stupid little trial' within earshot of a juror.... [W]hile presiding over a trial of a drug dealer in 2007... [h]e told prosecutors in the case that seeking the death penalty was 'absurd' and a waste of taxpayer money.... Judge Block stands by his approach, noting that in the case of the Asian defendant, 'everyone in the courtroom laughed,' and that he would 'do the same thing again.' Though he said he regretted the 'dark faces' comment, he said it was taken out of context, and that he meant it as a compliment. 'I’m the least bigoted judge on the bench,' Judge Block said."

From "At 91, an Idiosyncratic Judge Prepares for His Latest Big Case/Judge Frederic Block will oversee the prosecution of Rafael Caro Quintero, a Mexican drug lord, which could end in the death penalty. In the meantime, there’s stand-up comedy to keep him busy" (NYT).

17 comments:

FormerLawClerk said...: Spic. The Mexicans are called spics. You got your Wops, your ragheads, your cheese-eating surrender monkeys ... Hell, we're all dogs.; 7/4/25, 8:31 AM
Achilles said...: Racism is OK if you are a democrat judge.; 7/4/25, 8:34 AM
Dave Begley said...: The NYT never rests. It has to slime a 91-year-old judge.; 7/4/25, 8:35 AM
Political Junkie said...: He is my kind of Democrat. Appointed by Slick Willie. A character, how long before the Left goes after him?; 7/4/25, 8:41 AM
Iman said...: “Cube top
Squared-off
Eight corners
90 degree angles
Flat top
Stares straight ahead
Stock parts
Blockhead”; 7/4/25, 8:46 AM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: It’s OK. I’m sure some of his best friends are black; 7/4/25, 8:52 AM
n.n said...: Is the controversy over cultural appropriation?; 7/4/25, 8:55 AM
Aggie said...: I had to read 7 paragraphs to confirm what I suspected about the gentle, deferential tone of the article.

Not that I think it's wrong - just that I know how different the tone would have been for a judge that had been, shall we say, 'differently-appointed'.; 7/4/25, 8:58 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: So he's 91, and been a judge for what 30 years? And that's the best they can come up with. He's not going to judge his innocence or guilt, the jury will..; 7/4/25, 9:33 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Per the NY Post = "Still, he’s a spring chicken compared to his neighbor and friend on the ninth floor of Brooklyn Federal Courthouse — 100 year-old Judge Leo Glasser. “

Just more evidence that a mandatory retirement age of 80 should be a requirement for all judges.; 7/4/25, 9:37 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: Judge Block's comments are mild compared to those of District Judge Andy Hauk. Hauk was appointed to the Federal bench in 1966 by LBJ. He sat in the Central District Court of California (Los Angeles). He was wildly intemperate in his language. You were in for a wild ride when you appeared in his courtroom. He had no problem in expressing his contempt for the lawyers, the parties, and the world in general. One of his favorite epithets at the time was "OPECkers". He didn't like "them Ay-rabs". Born in Denver in 1912, he still had a bit of the really wild West about him. He took senior status when he was 70, but he continued to hear cases until he died at 91. I am one of several hundred who appeared before him and we all have the scars to prove it.
That said, Hauk usually arrived at a reasonably correct decision.; 7/4/25, 10:11 AM
mikee said...: I recall my 1888 Slovakia-born grandfather, in the early 1970s, having a Sunday afternoon discussion with my father about his early days in the US as a Pittsburgh steelworker, and the ethnic and racial and religious differences among the mostly-immigrant workforce of the early 2oth Century. If any group and its pejorative nickname was missed, it was probably Eskimos, because everyone else in the world was working there and got along while calling each other by names that now would result in immediate fighting. Diferent times, different social behaviors. The tender feelings over relatively insignificant differences today, in another 50 years will be looked upon as wildly silly, just as my father and I looked at Grandpa's description of working with the John Bulls and the Dagos seemed downright quaint and silly to us back then.; 7/4/25, 10:23 AM
hombre said...: “Idiosyncratic” maybe, but the examples in Althouse’s excerpts likely violate the Judicial Code of Ethics. Of course these are minor breaches compared to those of his TDS Democrat brothers and sisters seeking to take over the Presidency.; 7/4/25, 11:06 AM
mccullough said...: He’s 91. For his generation he’s enlightened. By today’s standard he’s a cretin. In 30 years, the Muslim judges will be enlightened by 622 AD standards.; 7/4/25, 11:10 AM
n.n said...: Asian-American? Saudi? Indian? Russian?; 7/4/25, 12:11 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: "At 91, an Idiosyncratic Judge Prepares for His Latest Big Case“

Too many judges are getting idiosyncratic these days. Time to replace them with AI. Just judge the case and spare us the attempts at dispensing wit and wisdom.; 7/4/25, 2:01 PM
Ampersand said...: I always enjoyed judges who tried to entertain a bit. Judge Murphy in Burbank CA courthouse would routinely bring the house down on name change petitions by telling petitioner that their name was changed to Murphy. All the lawyers knew it was coming, and it was great theater to have petitioner explain why Murphy wasn't such a great name, despite the judge's insistence to the contrary.; 7/4/25, 4:01 PM