The New York Times (6/5, Bronner, Subscription Publication, 1.68M) reports, “A group of civil rights organizations and legal ethicists filed a complaint of misconduct against a senior federal judge on Tuesday, alleging that recent remarks of hers showed bias against minority groups and an inappropriate religious belief in the death penalty.” The Times continues, “The complaint, against Judge Edith H. Jones of Houston, who sits on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, asserts that at a speech at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in February she said that blacks and Hispanics were more prone than others to commit violent crimes and that a death sentence was a service to defendants because it allowed them to make peace with God. The complaint is signed by representatives of, among others, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Texas Civil Rights Project and the Mexican Capital Legal Assistance Program and cites a number of people who attended the lecture.”

In short, I find these accusations unbelieveable. Judge Jones is an extremely talented and respected member of the judiciary. However, there needs to be a full investigation because there is no place for racial bias or even the appearance of racial bias on the judiciary.