Judge Acknowledges Appearance of Female Preference in Order (1)

A US District Judge acknowledged the appearance of bias after an order she issued emphasizing the need for female attorneys to have a prominent role in a multidistrict litigation case attracted an ethics complaint from a conservative group.

“Although I never engaged in impermissible discrimination when selecting attorneys for MDL leadership positions or in any other facet of my work,” Northern District of Florida Judge Casey Rogers wrote in a letter to Eleventh Circuit Chief Judge William Pryor, “I acknowledge that my statements could be construed as creating a preference for female attorney representation in leadership positions during the selection ...