Interesting column today from John Brummett, who reports on an ongoing appeal by a deputy public defender in Fayetteville, Julie Tolleson, to challenge her banishment from Circuit Judge William Storey’s court. He was perturbed at her Facebook criticism of his decision to hold court in Fayetteville last winter with 23 inches of snow on the ground, a burden for many of her poor clients.
Can a judge ban a lawyer from his court? Tolleson’s attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig, thinks not and has a precedent involving himself and Floyd Lofton to go on.
UPDATE:
1) See the offending Facebook thread here.
2) Here’s the petition to the Supreme Court.
3) Here’s Tolleson’s grievance to the Public Defenders Commission over no longer being assigned to cases in Storey’s court.