La. Supreme Court can’t say whether judge's Trump speech at Baptist event violates code of conduct
Court doesn't provide 'advisory interpretations'
A Louisiana appellate judge is unlikely to face any disciplinary action — at least in the near-term — for her speech at a Baptist event in which she called former President Donald Trump “racist” for his comments about Haitian immigrants and said, “it's going to take a black person to chop off the head of the racist in this country.”
Judge Sharon Wilson, a member of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church of Lake Charles, made the comments during a Sept. 12 speech at an evening worship service during the 144th Annual Session of the National Baptist Convention of America (NCBA), the largest African American denomination in the United States.
The speech later went viral on social media just days before a second assassination attempt against Trump at his golf club in West Palm Beach earlier this month.
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It also raised questions about whether Wilson, who also serves on the Judiciary Commission of the Louisiana Supreme Court as an appellate court member in addition to her appellate court judgeship, violated any ethical or other guidelines in her speech, in which she argued that Trump targeted the Haitian community specifically in his debate comments.
According to the Judiciary Commission’s code of judicial conduct, judges and judicial candidates are required to “refrain from inappropriate political and campaign activity,” which includes “publicly [endorsing] or publicly [opposing] another candidate for public office.”
When asked whether Wilson violated the code of conduct, a spokesman for the Louisiana Supreme Court said the judicial body “does not provide advisory interpretations regarding whether particular conduct violates the Code of Judicial Conduct.”
Additionally, according to Louisiana Supreme Court spokesman Robert Gunn, the court “cannot discipline a judge unless it first receives a recommendation from the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana, which may only occur after an investigation and evidentiary hearing before the Commission,” which are open to the public.
Meanwhile, a Haitian nonprofit organization is pursuing criminal charges against Trump and his running mate, Republican U.S. Sen. JD Vance, over their disputed claims about migrants in Springfield, Ohio, allegedly eating cats, with opponents saying their comments led to bomb threats and school evacuations in the small city that had a population of around 58,000 residents in 2020 before at least 12,000 and as many as 20,000 Haitian migrants were relocated there over the last five years.
During his Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump, when asked about his record on border security, highlighted the town of Springfield.
“What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country. And look at what's happening to the towns all over the United States,” said Trump. “A lot of towns don't want to talk about it because they're so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. The people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating — they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country. And it's a shame.”
Last year, a Haitian man who had recently resettled in the area crashed his minivan into a school bus, killing an 11-year-old student on board. The man had been driving without a license.
Wilson's speech also appeared to relate to the Haitian revolution between 1791 and 1804 when self-liberated slaves overthrew French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, which is now known as the sovereign state of Haiti.
She then linked another sermon at the conference with Haiti’s declaration of independence and the violent act of decapitation.
“And anytime a black man stands up and declares his God-given right, a racist is not happy,” Wilson added. “And I learned last night from brother Reverend Jackson, it's going to take a black person to chop off the head of the racist in this country."
According to Woke Preacher Clips, a pastor who spoke the day before likened Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, to David killing Goliath.
