Do you think this judge knows who the president is?

[Oneeyedvic]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8310509.stm
A white US justice of the peace has been criticised for refusing to issue marriage licences to mixed-race couples.

Keith Bardwell, of Tangipahoa Parish in Louisiana, denied racism but said mixed-race children were not readily accepted by their parents' communities.

A couple he refused to marry is considering filing a complaint about him to the US Justice Department.

Mr Bardwell said he had many black friends and frequently married them.

[jno]

blimey. Does he know what the law is?

[Clanad]

Problem is that the marriage laws are U.S. Statutes and not the purview of the U.S. Government.

Obviously, not knowing anymore than what I read in this thread, it would have to be shown that the JP (who is appointed or sometimes elected by the County of the State in which he resides) actually discriminated against the couple. It appears, again through this thread, that he elected not to marry a "mixed" couple rather than declining to marry a black or Asian or white couple which may be show to be discriminatory.

The JP has the same latitude in refusing to marry a couple who shows up inebriated, for example. The fact is the couple could go to any other official or minister who is so authorized and have the ceremony performed...

[jake-the-peg]

After 34 years I think it's clearly time for someone to tap him on the shoulder and say " time to hang up your wig and gown (or whatever you guys have) and put your feet up".

Otherwise before you know it he'll be refusing to marry Scorpios to Taureans!

[jno]

but it would still be discrimination on racial grounds, wouldn't it, Clanad?

[Clanad]

Generally speaking, jno (and I'm no attorney) to be gulity of racial discrimination, one has to show they have been harmed by favoritism being given to one of another race. In this case both the white and black persons were equally denied his services. If a black couple or Asian couple, as an example) came in and were denied service, they're maybe a case. However, JP's here in the U.S. are notoriously independent. Heck, in most jurisdictions they are not even required to be an attorney, which, come to think about it, might be a good thing!

[jno]

Clanad, if I were the would-be husband in question (or his intended, for that matter) I would argue that a judge who would marry the same woman to a white man, but not to me because I'm a black man, was indeed discriminating against me on racial grounds. But I must confess to not knowing a lot about the rules in the bayous.