A judge in western Pennsylvania accused of making racist and demeaning comments has resigned on Tuesday, one day before he was to face a misconduct trial (article available here).
A Pennsylvania ethics court, the Court of Judicial Discipline, on Thursday then barred Mark V. Tranquilli, a now-former Allegheny County judge from ever holding judicial office again after allegations that he made racist and demeaning remarks about jurors and defendants which included, among other things, referring to a Black female juror as “Aunt Jemima.”
Other allegations accuse the former judge of using Ebonics when he spoke to Black parents in a custody conciliation hearing, and that he said a defendant would be cast down “among the Sodomites” in state prison if he did not show up to a parole hearing.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices stated in its November 19 order that, although Mark Tranquilli had agreed Tuesday to resign and not seek another judicial office, the court was further sanctioning him by permanently withholding some pay. The court also found that the pledge to not seek judicial office in the future is “binding and irrevocable.”
Tranquilli was placed on administrative leave in February and was suspended without pay in August. He was a prosecutor before being elected to the bench in 2013.