The Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct (BJC) Shelby County General Sessions publicly reprimanded Judge Bill Anderson on Tuesday after he belittled a police sergeant and revealed his disdain for the “bail bond system” in Tennessee.
The BJC served Anderson the public reprimand after he declared his opposition to the concept of bail and bail bonding companies in September 2023, when the judge claimed bail bonding companies “don’t do anything but collect money from poor people” during a meeting of the Shelby County Commission, and declared, “I detest the bail bond system in Shelby County, I detest it across this state.”
The board wrote that Anderson, responding to the inquiry from the BJC, admitted he made “extrajudicial comments” about his personal view on bail but claimed to follow the law despite his values.
“It is one thing for a judge to appear publicly and explain specific problems in an area of the law in which the judge has expertise; it is quite another for a judge to publicly declare that he or she ‘detests’ the law that the judge is charged with applying,” wrote the BJC in its public reprimand.
The letter explains that statements like Anderson’s “can undermine public perception and confidence that the judge will approach his or her cases fairly and impartially, as well as undermine public confidence in the judiciary.”
In addition to Anderson’s remarks opposing bail, the BJC determined the judge “raised his voice” and “became sarcastic” with Memphis Police Sgt. Benjamin O’Brien in March 2023. According to the board, Anderson’s behavior left O’Brien feeling “embarrassed and harassed.”
“Judges are expected to maintain the highest standards of conduct and dignity of judicial office at all times,” the board admonished Anderson. “Yelling or making injudicious comments in court is neither dignified nor courteous and sets a poor example for everyone present.”
According to the board, Anderson’s behavior also does not “inspire confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.”
The board’s public reprimand of Anderson comes months after State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) highlighted the judge’s comments last November.
Taylor expressed his concerns about Anderson in a letter to the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts after the judge released alleged Thanksgiving Day murderer Edio White with zero bond after police said White admitted to driving the getaway car after his associate killed a 15-year-old during a robbery gone wrong.
“My concern is Judge Anderson’s animus toward the bail system has put my constituents in Shelby County in danger,” wrote Taylor in his letter before warning, “his influence is corrupting the judicial commissioners’ bail decisions” which the senator added “is evidenced by continued setting of low bail amounts.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Bill Anderson” by Bill Anderson.
The ‘good’ judge needs impeached and disbarred!
Just another activist Democrat!