RICHMOND, Va. — An attorney in Virginia has filed a complaint against a judge who had halted the removal of Confederate statues from Richmond’s Monument Avenue.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Friday that the complaint criticizes the judge for presiding over the statue cases despite living near the monuments.
The complaint also cites an editorial the judge wrote in college in 1977 that criticized President Jimmy Carter’s instant-voter-registration plan. The editorial said the plan would “allow the parasites of this nation to become the dominating force in politics.”
Attorney David Baugh wrote that the judge’s proximity to the statues “raises concerns about his impartiality.” Baugh also wrote that the judge continues to suffer from ”bias and prejudices articulated while a student.”
Richmond Circuit Court Judge Bradley B. Cavedo had granted injunctions in a challenge to Virginia’s plan to take down the city’s Robert E. Lee statue. He also delivered an injunction in a case against Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney over the removal of city-owned Confederate statues.
Cavedo recused himself last week, saying he was unaware that he lived in the historic district in which Monument Avenue is located. Cavedo told the Times-Dispatch that he was proud of his record as a judge, saying that he’s been “elected unanimously by the legislature five times.”
Cavedo added: “He complains about something I said 43 years ago in college. That college kid did not exist after 1977.”
Baugh filed his complaint with Virginia’s Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission.
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