In Alabama, Texas and New York, sexual misconduct of judges is not deemed a basis for attorney discipline

While the Alabama Chief Judge Roy Moore was suspended for disobeying the same-sex marriage precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court (while other judges happily throughout the country continue to disobey a variety of U.S. Supreme Court precedents concerning civil rights litigation), one thing that Judge Roy Moore's attorney pointed out is really spectacular:  from the point of view of discipline, it is a worse offense for a judge to disobey the precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court than to sext with a litigant appearing before a judge.

What was meant is just 6-month suspension for sexting with a litigant for judge Leon Archer of Alabama.

The same is happening in New York, both in terms of attorney discipline and judicial discipline.

I recently wrote that, in New York, an attorney, Barry Dolgoff, who admitted in court to committing what qualifies as a felony by stealing from his clients' trust fund (reportedly, $149,000), received a lighter discipline than the attorney whose only "fault" was criticism of a judge in motions to recuse on behalf of her clients, one of them pro bono.

As to sex crimes, in New York, judge Bryan Hedges was relatively recently taken off the bench for sexual child abuse, sexual molestation of a deaf-mute 5-year old niece, see determination of the New York Commission for Judicial Conduct here, but remains a licensed attorney with "no record of public discipline".

So, Alabama, same as in New York, embraces criminals, including sexual predators, as licensed attorneys and judges - and sends to the public an unmistakable message that all assurances the attorney licensing exists to protect the public is a sham.

The sexting judge in Alabama is not the only sexting judge exposed recently.

In Texas, Judge Joel Baker recently resigned during a sexting investigation.

A criminal complaint was filed against judge Baker back in 2011, for stalking a woman - but Judge Baker remained on the bench, and the investigation was swept under the rug.

Despite criminal complaints for stalking, resigning during sexting investigation and criminal indictments for violation of open meetings law, former judge Joel Baker remains, as of today, a licensed attorney in the State of Texas:

Well, before it was only civil rights attorneys who were kicked by the system for doing their jobs the way they understand it.

Now joining the crowd of attorneys punished for their correct legal opinions is Chief Judge for the State of Alabama, suspended for stating the obvious - that precedents of the U.S. Supreme Court are not the Law of the Land, not being part of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, and thus not mandatory for enforcement in the State of Alabama.

Let's see what the U.S. Supreme Court says to that - if Judge Moore's case goes that far.

As a summary of the sorry cases of Judges Leon Archer in Alabama, Judge Bryan Hedges in New York and Judge Joel Baker in Texas, I bet that the American public should feel extremely protected through attorney licensing when sexual predators are allowed to remain licensed attorneys with "no record of public discipline".