Government Law
Detroit’s Top Lawyer Resigns Over ‘Ghetto Court’ Remark
Posted Jan 20, 2009 6:42 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The chief of Detroit’s law department has resigned in a flap stemming from her reference to one of the city’s courts as “a ghetto court.”
Kathleen Leavey, who is white, made the comment in a meeting last week with court staffers, according to the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News.
Leavey told the newspapers that her statement was taken out of context by the court’s chief judge. She said she told a court administrator that the facility is regarded as a ghetto court because of its poor treatment of people through slow service and long lines.
But Chief Judge Marylin Atkins said in a letter sent to city officials that Leavey instead said that "when the court stopped 'acting like a ghetto court,' the city would be more inclined to pay for our operations."
"How dare you!" Atkins wrote. "Not only are your words insulting and racist to this court and the entire city, but they are highly unprofessional coming from the highest ranking attorney for the city of Detroit."
Leavey told the Detroit News that she is not racist, and she hopes to return to her former job as a law department employee. "I am not going down without a fight," she said.
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Comments
B. McLeod
Jan 20, 2009 7:25 AM CST
In this context, seems like resigning pretty much does constitute “going down without a fight.”
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Eduardo
Jan 20, 2009 10:07 AM CST
Is she for real, I would leave that place, who cares its not like she has to stay like a good little puppy, go somewhere else and practice law, after all it looks more to me like another corrupt system. Move on staying makes you even more dumb and infantile.
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J.D.
Jan 20, 2009 1:11 PM CST
Perhaps Atkins can explain why the court is NOT ghetto?
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detroit is the hood
Jan 20, 2009 4:22 PM CST
you ever been in 36th circuit court - it’s like walking through some of the worst parts of detroit
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QKLAW
Jan 23, 2009 6:29 AM CST
Her comments were unprofessional. If she felt that the court was not operating professionally and or efficiently, then she should have said exactly that, plain and simple.
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Detroit Individual
Jan 23, 2009 7:09 AM CST
36th is ghetto. Her comments were unprofessional but notice how Atkins did not address the issues. This seems to be typical of those who “fight” racism. Remember when one of the most brilliant scientists of the generation, who discovered DNA, commented that data indicate that those of African decent are less intelligent than their European counterparts? Rather than determine if it’s true coming from one of the most brilliant minds today, the “fighters” of racism attacked him as being racist.
Address the issues, my brothers!
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miattyma
Jan 23, 2009 7:54 AM CST
—Chief Judge Marylin Atkins said in a letter sent to city officials that Leavey instead said that “when the court stopped ‘acting like a ghetto court,’ the city would be more inclined to pay for our operations.”—The response is focused on Kathleen Leavey’s use of the word ghetto. Apparently Judge Atkins is outraged by the racial overtone of the word. However, this matter can easily be understood by anyone visiting the 36th Court, which is the court being referenced. Definition of ghetto includes “a section of a city, esp. a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships.” It is obvious that 36th District court would be in a “ghetto” area. However, the alleged comment made indicates that the court would receive financing when it stops “acting like a ghetto court.” There is a difference here. This comment does not call the court ghetto, rather the messenger wants the court to stop acting in a ghetto manner. Thus it would be reasonable to conclude that if the court treats its patrons like slums or places undue restrictions, hardships or pressure upon others, then it would be acting ghetto. Although other vernacular could have been chosen. It is a fact that the majority of the patrons in the court are minority. Thus it would be proper to concluded that a court is acting ghetto when it treats the patrons, whom are mostly minority, in an oppressive and restrictive manner. I for one, think that the court surely acts in such a manner. The staff are disrespectful and uncooperative. It is not uncommon for them to roll their eyes at you, chew gum when speaking to you, and tell you that it’s not their problem. Very few people can say they actually getting treated with respect at the 36th Dist. Instead, the Court needs to stop acting this way and treat everyone with respect and dignity.
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steve
Jan 23, 2009 8:22 AM CST
All the comments I have read so far are on par with my experience at that court. It’s a horrible place. The clerks regularly screw things up. The judges are mostly unqualified. And here’s a little pointer to the court- modern offices do not use carbon paper anymore, check into these things called copy machines.
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nyc
Jan 23, 2009 8:24 AM CST
miattyma,
Your comment is definitely the most intelligent one posted here. Very well said
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Bakes, Esq.
Jan 23, 2009 8:54 AM CST
Miattyma… good comment, I’d have to agree. Aside from the fact that the use of the word ‘ghetto’ itself may carry certain demographic, but definitely no inherently racial overtones. Even so I also applaud QKLaw’s comment… instead of using codified language, just point out what’s failing the court.
As for Detroit Individual, it scares me to think that some law school actually conferred a degree on you… or even worse, that some state bar admitted you to it’s practice. The paucity of information and subsequently flawed analysis evident in your reasoning is disheartening.
Firstly Watson didn’t discover DNA, he co-discovered the structure of the DNA molecule, the way the tiny DNA compounds link with each other to form the double-helix structure. To put in words even a five-year old could understand… he didn’t discover the puzzle, he simply figured out how to put it together.
More relevantly, there was no need for anyone to determine it it was true that people of
African “decent” were less intelligent than Europeans… because Watson himself repudiated the comments.. quoth “I am cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said… ” http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/james-watson-to-question-genetic-intelligence-is-not-racism-397250.html; and from my point of view, there is no scientific basis for such a belief” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2687364.ece
Watson’s own backtracking aside, it bears noting that the statements were made in reliance on IQ testing which even its proponents would concede are culturally biased.
Moral of the story being don’t be in such a haste to decry emotionalism that you abandon any sense of intelligence and rationalism in the process.
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Stone
Jan 23, 2009 9:26 AM CST
“Ghetto Court” doesn’t come close to equating to racism. Millions of people of different races live in ghettos all over. And in this case, truth is a defense.
Bad Judge
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jfred
Jan 23, 2009 10:29 AM CST
OMG she called the 36th Ghetto Court!!!!
That is exactly what it is. the 36th is the very definition of Ghetto Court.
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36D
Jan 23, 2009 10:42 AM CST
I’ve been there and it sucks. That’s quite a snip at at the court, judges, etc. though! With reporters present??? I’m not sure it’s racist, and I’m not sure that 36th isn’t ‘ghetto,’ but be a little smarter than that.
I wonder if the judge doesn’t realize that everyone who walks in thinks some variation of that very ‘ghetto’ comment. . .
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R
Jan 23, 2009 10:52 AM CST
#10 -
“As for Detroit Individual, it scares me to think that some law school actually conferred a degree on you… or even worse, that some state bar admitted you to it’s practice. The paucity of information and subsequently flawed analysis evident in your reasoning is disheartening.”
Hahahaha! Well played!
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Detroit Lawyer
Jan 23, 2009 11:10 AM CST
Every single local attorney I know agrees that 36th District Court is the most inefficient District Court in Michigan. The clerks are rude, the court constantly loses documents, and if you call the court you’re lucky if someone to answers the phone. The incompetence at 36th is astounding.
36th District Court is most certainly ghetto.
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nicole
Jan 23, 2009 12:25 PM CST
What’s going on in Detroit these days? The courts are “ghetto” and the “top lawyer” is not very bright to make a statement even remotely resembling the one attributed to her.
Perhaps she was planning to retire or switch to a transactional practice are. Surely she wasn’t planning to argue before that court (or any other in the area)?
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Matthew
Jan 23, 2009 1:19 PM CST
Please, just because you say something is “ghetto” does not mean you’re racist. There are ghetto people in every race in every country. This judge is a complete moron, she’s probably friends with that idiot former mayor that’s now in prison.
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Ethical Breach
Jan 23, 2009 2:31 PM CST
I have ethical lapses when it comes to venue. If venue is in the 36th District, I invent a frivolous argument that venue should be elsewhere.
IT IS A GHETTO COURT. And Kathleen Leavey was right.
The last case I had there, the court lost the file and it is ordered stayed until they find it. THAT WAS 3 YEARS AGO!
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NW
Jan 23, 2009 5:35 PM CST
Ghetto court? Big deal. The whole city of Detroit is ghetto. Get out of the Midwest and ask around. Figure out what the rest of the nation already knows.
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Chuck
Jan 23, 2009 5:36 PM CST
Comment removed by moderator.
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frankiepoo
Jan 23, 2009 5:44 PM CST
why do ABA moderators allow liberal trolling to stand unchecked, but say anything about the messiah and they strike you down. sad.
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Kerry
Jan 23, 2009 10:31 PM CST
Precisely what does it mean to “act ghetto”?
If you study the etymology, the word “ghetto” referred to the areas where Jews were required to live in Italy and other parts of Europe. Those areas were very poor, and the inhabitants of these Jewish ghettos lived in cramped quarters.
That is the history of the word. In recent years, the word has been used to refer to poor neighborhoods where blacks and other people of color live. Also, very recently, some people have used the word ghetto as an adjective, and that adjective is decidely slang.
If we are to be honest, the word ghetto often does hold racial connotations. In addition, it decidedly makes implications regarding social and economic status.
I’m surprised and disappointed that the “top lawyer” doesn’t have a more sophisticated vocabulary, or just simply lacks the class to restrain herself from using a slang word that holds dubious connotation to describe the court’s problems. She was in a professional setting.
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chui Karega
Jan 24, 2009 4:31 PM CST
36th District Court is one of the most effective courts in the country. As a practitioner in that court I am appalled by the “ghetto” remark. While I know Kathleen Levy; it is unfortunate she put herself in this situation. But it is more unfortunate practitioners think they can routinely remark negatively about Black run courts and expect no one to care or call them to task. If this had been said about a white run court in Michigan, disciplinary action would be under consideration.
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Kalifornia Arnold
Jan 24, 2009 5:48 PM CST
Someone should introduce Judge Atkins to the First Amendment, which does not rise or fall on political correctness. It seems judge Atkins is too busy to have ever read the Constitution, let alone defend it against “racism”
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