I wrote before about Judge Edith Jones, who has been accused of making racist comments at a Federalist Society meeting. See my prior post here. She allegedly stated that certain racial groups, such as African-Americans and Hispanics, are "predisposed" toward crime. Most judges might get away with making those sorts of statements, if they were not already known to be as conservative as Judge Jones. The Fifth Circuit jurist has demonstrated an antipathy toward employment plaintiffs in the past. Various legal groups filed a complaint regarding her remarks.

Well, now, the investigation has found that she did not violate any canons of judicial ethics. The groups who filed the complaint have appealed. See Judge Kopf’s comments about the investigation here. Judge Kopf finds the complaints about her remarks to have been over-stated. The complaint was investigated by a panel selected by the District of Columbia circuit. Judge Kopf finds their report to be well drafted. You can follow his link to look at the complaints and the judges’ report. 

In reviewing the affidavits, I see where two attendees said Judge Jones specifically did not say certain races are prone to violence. But, three listeners, one of whom was self-reported as African-American, did report that she said certain races were "prone" or "predisposed" to violence. When one attendee asked the judge to clarify, she backed off her initial statement. She explained that she meant that certain races committed more crimes. Oh. Ok. 

All I can say is that Judge Jones, as Judge Kopf mentions, is opinionated – in my opinion, too opinionated for a federal judge.