Oakland County Probate Judge Kathleen Ryan relieved of her duties after secret recordings reveal her making anti gay and anti-black statements throwing into question her judicial impartiality.
‘I’m a new racist….’ A suburban Detroit judge in Michigan is no longer handling cases after a court official turned over ‘secret recordings’ of her making anti-gay insults and referring to black people as lazy.
Oakland County Probate Judge Kathleen Ryan was relieved of her duties and removed from her docket on Aug. 27 for unprofessional conduct after the recordings were sent to key officials, Detroit News reported.
Now the court’s administrator has come forward to say he blew the whistle on her, secretly recording their phone calls.
Why be an old racist when you can be a new racist and anti gay?
‘I just want to make it right. … I want to keep my job and do it in peace,’ Edward Hutton told WXYZ-TV. ‘And I want the people in Oakland County that come to court to get a fair shake, to have their day in court, to have an unbiased trier of fact.’
Addressing the controversy, Judge Kathleen Ryan’s attorneys, Gerald Gleeson and Thomas Cranmer, responded saying: ‘We look forward to vindicating Judge Ryan in the appropriate forum.’
Probate judges in Michigan handle wills and estates, guardianships and cases that involve the state’s mental health laws.
In the phone recordings, Ryan uses an anti-gay slur against David Coulter, the county’s highest elected official, who is gay. She also referred to blacks in the U.S. as lazy.
‘I’m not systemically racist. I’m a new racist,’ said Ryan, who was first elected in 2010.
In the recordings, Ryan goes on to say that Black people from countries other than the U.S. are better and that ‘if you’re an American Black person, then you’re a f—— lazy piece of sh*t.’
Is Judge Kathleen Ryan judging her cases fairly and impartially?
The probate judge also said another person is a ‘fucking c—sucker. He’s just a dick. I have no use for him.’
It is legal to record phone calls in Michigan if one party consents. In this matter, it was Hutton, who said Ryan had called him at work and after-hours for years.
It’s unclear when the recordings, which altogether last roughly a minute, were made or if Ryan consented to be recorded.
Hutton said he sent the recordings in August to Coulter; Elizabeth Clement, the chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court; and other officials. Chief Probate Judge Linda Hallmark then suspended her, with pay, while she’s investigated by a judiciary watchdog, the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission.
Her father, James Ryan, was a state and federal judge. A brother, Daniel Ryan, was also a judge.
Responding to the slurs, Coulter in a statement to the Detroit Free Press called Ryan’s words ‘abhorrent’ and said they justified her removal from the county’s probate court ‘pending further investigation.’
Added Coulter, ‘There is absolutely no place for harassment of any kind or racist or homophobic language by anyone at Oakland County, especially by someone the public must be confident will act fairly and impartially. I have confidence that the agencies reviewing this matter will treat it with the seriousness it deserves and will take further action if warranted.’
