When even local churchgoing folk complain about the local judge invoking religion in the courtroom, chances are you’ve gone too far. And that’s the reason that Covington County Circuit Judge Ashley McKathan of Andalusia, Alabama has to answer to the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission. Despite the first name of “Ashley,” Judge McKathan is male, in keeping with a fine southern tradition of giving girls’ names to boys, like Carroll, Tracey, and Shelby.
What exactly did Judge McKathan do? Well, for starters, he got down on his knees in open court and ordered everyone in the room to hold hands and pray.
See, that’s over the line. When you’re in a courtroom, the judge is in charge. Period. It is not a democracy in there. It is a dictatorship. You do what the judge tells you to do. You can be found in contempt if you don’t.
And that’s why the judge needs to be scrupulously fair, visibly fair. It needs to be clear that people who go to his church get treated differently than people who don’t. No one should question whether the judge is going to be evenhanded to everyone, or that the judge views his job as enforcing the law. So when the judge starts quoting the Bible in response to an official complaint about his courtroom antics, that’s not an encouraging sign.
I’m not saying that judges can’t be devoutly religious. Some of them should be. The bench should reflect a wide range of opinions and world views. But they all need to do their jobs, and part of doing a judge’s job is making clear that everyone gets a fair shake. I think this judge has compromised his ability to do that.
