Despite her encyclopedic knowledge of luxury hotels and her unimpeachable sense of style, Article III Groupie is not perfect. Sometimes she makes mistakes (although not in the coordination of shoes and accessories, nor in the evaluation of Right-Wing Judicial Divas). Most errors in the pages of UTR she corrects quietly, through unheralded amendments to the original post. Indeed, Article III Groupie, a compulsive editor, frequently amends posts after the fact, to fix minor typographical mistakes, improve her word choice, add new links or pictures, etc. (Given the frequency of such changes, those of you who receive UTR over an RSS feed would be well-advised to direct your RSS reader not to treat modified posts as new.)
Some boo-boos, however, are significant enough that Article III Groupie feels they should be drawn to the attention of her readership in a separate corrections column. She therefore brings you Amended Opinions: UTR Corrections. Article III Groupie is a big girl, and she owns up to her mistakes!
In the original version of this post, in the Justice Is Blind category, UTR identified the first unnamed judge referred to in Mark Costello's cover story for the New York Times Magazine as Judge Harold A. Ackerman. A UTR reader questioned this identification, which triggered an investigation. UTR has now concluded that the judge being referred to is in fact Judge Alfred J. Lechner, Jr., not Judge Ackerman. (The original post has been revised accordingly.)
Like the judge described in Costello's article, Judge Ackerman can be a tough sentencer. But the judicial temperament of the judge in question is far more consistent with that of Judge Lechner, also known to get medieval on defendant ass. Judge Lechner has been known for firing his clerks, heaping verbal abuse upon lawyers from the bench, and generally making his courtroom a living hell for those who appear before him.
Thankfully for the federal bar in the state of New Jersey, Judge Lechner is now ex-Judge Lechner. Mr. Congeniality resigned from the Article III bench on October 1, 2001, enraged after learning that he was not going to be elevated to the Third Circuit. (The White House counsel's office decided not to nominate Judge Lechner after concluding that he belonged in psychotherapy and anger management classes, not on a federal appeals court.) Now, instead of torturing litigants and law clerks, You-Can-Call-Me-Al Lechner can abuse associates, as a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. (Do not be misled by his cheerful, almost cherubic appearance in this picture on the Morgan Lewis website; Alfred J. Lechner is not a shiny happy person!)
Article III Groupie regrets the error. She thanks the reader who drew this mistake to her attention, as well as the other sources who cooperated in her investigation.
Reversed and remanded,
(Image credits: APerfectWorld.org.)
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