Bloggers locally and nationwide weighed in about the Salisbury case in which District Court Judge Kevin Eddinger found attorney Todd Paris in contempt for reading a Maxim men’s magazine in the courtroom.
Here’s a sampling of some of the opinions:
From the “Legal Trade” blog on the Houston Chronicle’s Web site:
– “Common sense says this is not appropriate for the courtroom. If I brought a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue into the office and left it on my desk, I suspect that the “it isn’t pornography” argument would fail miserably when confronted by the boss.”
– “I love lawyer jokes, but reality is much better.”
From Concurring Opinions:
– “Although I can understand the judge’s ire, this seems like an overreaction to me.”
From Blogonaut:
– “The judge who showed the magazine to the whole courtroom seems to be the one in contempt, not the lawyer who was reading it alone. Who can fine the judge?”
– “No, the fact of the matter is the attorney should not have been looking at the magazine in open court. He was holding the magazine eye level, and everyone behind him was trying to look at what he was looking at. I know. I was there. It was a huge distraction and very inappropriate. End of discussion.”
From ABA Journal:
– “This judge has overstepped his bounds. Plus, he should be charged with the same contempt order. The courtroom had no idea what was going on until the judge held it up and showed it to everyone. He is the one who displayed the mag to everybody. I assure you if I had been in there and reading Cosmo, nothing would have been said.
From TMZ.com:
– “She (Heidi Montag on the Maxim cover) looks like a transgender Barbie.”
– “Gross!!!!!”
From The Wall Street Journal’s law blog:
– “This vulgar man (Paris) is getting exactly what he deserves. Maxim is indeed “grossly inappropriate” reading material that should not be bandied about in a court of law or in any workplace.”
– “I think it’s fairly clear that, while pushing the edge, Maxim is not pornography as most people would understand that term. This seems harsh if there was no warning. Reading such magazines in court is not a good idea, but also something you would not expect to get a 15-day suspended sentence for.”
– “The judge was correct, and the lawyer was, at the very least, impolitic (or maybe just stupid) to press the court’s buttons like this.”
– “I can tell that most of you have not been through the South, especially the southeast states of NC, SC, Tenn., Ken. or SW VA. Judges in those parts do not take lightly to lots of things that most northeasterners or urban folks find trivial, not because they’re jerks or imbeciles but because they adhere to a different philosophy of life and morality. I have known people to get jail sentences for speeding tickets in western NC.”
– “While lawyers should strive to set higher standards, is it really government’s job to prohibit otherwise legal behavior?”
– For those of you who do not know, Mr. Paris has been asking for this for a long time. This is not the first time he has pulled something like this. Judge Eddinger is the only judge who has had he guts to try to put a stop to his sloppy treatment of our courtroom.”
– “If you consider a courtroom to be a judge’s office, then I think he has a professional duty to maintain an appropriate work environment there. If I was in a courtroom as an opposing litigant and a lawyer or litigant was openly reading porno, I would be just as uncomfortable as if I went to someone’s office and there were centerfolds on the wall.”
– “What about for audience members, or people waiting for the next hearing? Is it OK for them to read while waiting? What about looking at legal notes or a laptop?”
– “It’s called freedom of the press. It’s sad when a judge who is supposed to protect the constitution of this great nation is the one who breaks the law.”
– “Praise to a judge that maintains the level of respect a courtroom deserves while adhering to the written code and not his/her own subjective values. It looks as if the comments from other people struggle with absolutes.”