Judge Tim Grendell missed his calling. Given his dictatorial impulses, he should have been a Soviet commissar or ancient Egyptian vizier. O, but for time, and place, and the mismatches of metempsychosis!
Grendell has lashed out punitively at Nancy McArthur, chairman of the Geauga County (Ohio) Republican Party, for seeking to undermine his authority with “vile” criticism. What happened? Did she interrupt courtroom proceedings with her aspersion-casting? Shout obloquy as he sought to instruct a jury?
Nothing like that. McArthur was never in Grendell’s court.
She did badmouth the judge, however … in private conversation.
The person McArthur was talking to is involved in a case presided over by Grendell, and, in a private email, reported on McArthur’s comments. Grendell, somehow, got hold of that email.
His response? Slap a subpoena on McArthur, demanding that she show cause why she should not “be held in Contempt of Court for making vile, contemptuous, slanderous, and insulting language directed at the Judge which reflects negatively on the integrity of the Court and impedes the Court in the administration of justice.…”
Yikes. McArthur was actually threatened with incarceration for speaking of this judge as if he were the type to do the sort of thing he did. Fortunately, his attempt to hold her in contempt has been blocked by an appellate court.
This isn’t the first time Grendell’s judicial reach has exceeded his ethical and constitutional grasp. Guilty of outrageous malpractice, he deserves a boot — to his rear, ejecting him from the bench.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
4 replies on “Contemptible Court”
Another example of the dual moral and legal systems which some elitists in “power” would have us have us accept and cower to.
The truth is a defense and opinions are not actionable — generally, except if you are commenting on someone already elected. Please explain to me the difference between Grendell and the heraldic sovereigns of the past who held and enforced similar opinions..
Ms. McArthur appears to be politically connected and should be organizing the “Committee not to Re-elect Judge Grindell”. That is not contempt as it is laudably engaging in the political process, and could go a long way to solving what may well be a Geauga County problem.
Great point, JFB. Let’s bemoan the bad behavior, but then let’s do something about it!
Uhm, watch it Paul — YOU may be getting the subpoena next! (Oh, no! I guess I’m in line now!)
I posted this and more in the comment sections of the Grendell opinion articles in the Plain Dealer. I have been submitting evidence to the news media. My grandchild and my family are the ones who are hurting the worse over this.
The Supreme Court is supposed to deal with ethics violations. It has been reported to them that Grendell fabricates contempt show causes and that he has used his power to issue an order to defame and degrade someone for political purposes and that he manipulates by controlling the docket or schedule of what shall be heard. He actually keeps people in a state of pre-trial in order to keep their evidence from being on the record. He actually LIED into the record and do you think the Supreme Court cares?
When you send them a complaint, you also have to send them the proof because they do NOT investigate. They do not investigate. They do not investigate. Hmmm, so if no law enforcement does either, because they tell you to contact the disciplinary counsel or the US justice department, then who are corrupt judges accountable to?
That is right, I am calling him corrupt! My reputation matters as much as this liar but he doesn’t care. He has disdain for the poor people beneath him in that court, and it is mostly poor people. Remember, he is a survival of the fittest person politically.
I am a BETTER person than him. I have made mistakes in my life, but mostly caused by being too nice and too forgiving. He is a political animal out for power in order to LORD it over others, not lift them up. And if he is not a sociopath, then he will repent, not adjust for his own survival, but repent and be sorry for whom he has harmed.
Lying in his office is a crime. Does the Supreme Court actually care? Lawyers, for the most part, I dare say, do not understand true liberty because they give their liberty up when they become officers of the court. It is common sense that if you give up your rights to criticize and therefore to speak the truth, in order to treat Judges as if they are royalty of some kind, then you lose your appreciation for true liberty. It only makes sense that lawyers become morally deficient. And they are for the most part. They are trained liars. Grendell is a slimy, slick, slippery kind of lawyer/judge. Framing an argument and rationalizing it on paper does not mean it is truth or reality!
He has used his office to publish lies to defame and degrade me for political purposes and thus harm a family and a damn good woman and citizen. He should be ashamed. I hope that he is, because otherwise, I have to wonder whether he has any conscience at all. And the powers that are only mainly focused on someone’s right to criticize in private speech? You ought to be considering the impact on our society of the court systems that force attorneys to give up their rights to criticize judges who act like ethically depraved bullies and power mongers.
All men are created equal. Do we really believe it when we have allowed a class of citizens to act and live as if they are above us all and above the truth? Oh, and he is using a child to punish a perceived political enemy.