[1L]

There's no "official" designation as such. I'm licensed in Texas and admitted to practice in several federal jurisdictions, including the USSC, and I've never been charged with being an "officer of the court." While it may be a way to think about it, in terms of ethical behavior, its mostly a TV phrase.

Further, the incident was in an elevator and not in the court room. While a judge MAY have some inherent powers in his own court, he doesn't get to control speech outside the court. I think the judge might be on solid ground exercising HIS first amendment rights about what the lawyer said, and he can make it sound intimidating. If that's what happened, then fine. But for a judge to assume he has the power to control the speech of a lawyer in an elevator, he is abusing his power.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

the incident was in an elevator and not in the court room.

Since there were multiple jurors as well as the lawyer involved, I take it that it was in the court building. Is it your position that when I was a juror and the judge charged us to have no communication with the lawyers in the case outside the courtroom, that he exceeded his authority? Is it your contention that you could harrangue black jurors and use a racial ephethet in the elevator on the way from the courtroom without legal consequence?

[SauronOfMordor]

While a judge MAY have some inherent powers in his own court, he doesn't get to control speech outside the court. I think the judge might be on solid ground exercising HIS first amendment rights about what the lawyer said, and he can make it sound intimidating. If that's what happened, then fine. But for a judge to assume he has the power to control the speech of a lawyer in an elevator, he is abusing his power.

If I was being verbally abused by a city attorney over how I decided a case as a juror, I would complain about intimidating conduct by a city official. The lawyer should be suspended for unprofessional conduct