A federal judge in Texas faces a misconduct investigation and a court-ordered psychiatric exam after she told a Latino civil rights attorney he was intimidated by “black excellence.”
U.S. District Judge Ada Brown repeatedly described attorney Ezra Young as white during an April 24 hearing in Dallas, according to the court transcript. Young, who is Latino, represented a black law professor in a tenure dispute with Southern Methodist University, Bloomberg Law reported.
During the April hearing, Brown said Young carried “white privilege” and showed “white mediocrity,” according to the transcript. She called him a “white savior, come to save all the stupid black lawyers in Texas who need your help, from New York.” (RELATED: Judge Strikes Down New York’s Body Armor Ban)
Young told the court he had disclosed his ethnicity more than once. “I’m not white, Your Honor,” he said.
A lawyer’s misconduct complaint against US District Judge Ada Brown stemmed from a hearing during which she repeatedly directed racial insults at him, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg Law. https://t.co/ESjtACRkIJ
— Bloomberg Law (@BLaw) October 28, 2026
Young filed a complaint against Brown soon after the hearing, according to Bloomberg Law. He wrote that the judge might have a mental health condition. The filing helped trigger an inquiry that cost Brown her docket this month.
The Fifth Circuit’s judicial council reassigned her cases Sept. 29 and blocked new assignments for three months, the Dallas Express reported. Investigators ordered a psychiatric evaluation and found she had withdrawn from more than 40 cases.
Brown then emailed sealed court records to roughly 140 judges, lawyers and reporters, according to Bloomberg Law. A special committee led by Fifth Circuit Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod has ordered her to appear. The panel warned it could proceed without her cooperation.
Brown has denied wrongdoing in a 76-page response and rejected any claim of a mental health problem, according to Bloomberg Law. She said she could have handled the race discussion “more delicately.”
Andre Davis, a former federal appeals judge, said the case for removing Brown “would be compelling” if the probe closed on the current record, according to Bloomberg Law. Arthur Hellman, a judicial ethics scholar at the University of Pittsburgh, said judges should remain “patient, dignified, respectful, and courteous.”
Young represents Cheryl Butler, a black former SMU law professor who says discrimination drove her tenure denial, according to court records. Brown dismissed Butler’s suit in 2023. The Fifth Circuit revived part of it last year.
