Georgia judge suspended for comparing anti-Confederate protesters to ISIS: report

A judge in Georgia has been suspended for Facebook posts in which he compared protesters of Confederate statues to members of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Gwinnett County Judge Jim Hinkle called protesters opposing a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E Lee in Charlottesville, Va., “snowflakes.” He said they had “no concept of history” and should “leave history alone.”

In a follow-up post, he likened taking down Confederate statues to ISIS’s destruction of historic sites and artifacts in the Middle East.

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Hinkle was suspended by Chief Magistrate Judge Kristina Hammer Blum, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday. Blum is considering further action against the judge.

“After reviewing the Facebook posts you brought to my attention this morning, I have suspended Judge Hinkle effective immediately while I consider the appropriate final action,” Blum said in an email.

“As the Chief Magistrate Judge, I have made it clear to all of our Judges that the Judicial Canons, as well as our internal policies, require Judges to conduct themselves in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity, impartiality, and fairness of the judiciary,” she added.

“I consider any violation of those principles and policies to be a matter of utmost concern, and will certainly take any action necessary to enforce compliance and to maintain the integrity of this Court.”

Hinkle told the Journal-Constitution that he didn’t “see anything controversial” about what he wrote on Facebook, adding that “with the way things are going in the world today, I guess everything’s controversial.”