Dallas Federal Judge Aida Brown Fails to Appear at Judicial Misconduct Hearing; Committee Waits Half an Hour before Chief Judge Elrod Ends the Session
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas — U.S. District Judge Aida Brown failed to appear as required on October 30 for a sworn interview before a special committee of the Fifth Circuit Judicial Council. After waiting half an hour, Chief Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod ended the day's proceedings.
The special committee — Elrod, Circuit Judge James Graves and Western District of Texas Chief Judge Alia Moses — is investigating two judicial conduct complaints against Brown.
In an order made public on October 19, the council found that Brown had "abandoned" her duties and may have a mental condition affecting her ability to serve. On September 21, the council took the rare step of ordering her to undergo a mental evaluation within 30 days, and on September 29 it temporarily reassigned her cases and barred new assignments to her.
Brown, appointed to the Northern District of Texas by President Trump in his first term, had told the committee she would not participate in the investigation, saying participation would harm an unspecified parallel investigation.
The committee did not announce next steps on the record. The case is a rare public disciplinary investigation of a sitting federal judge, and its course now awaits further committee action.
Source: GSM America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：City-of-Dallas。来源：Wikimedia Commons（Rapidfire，CC BY-SA 4.0）
