US Judge Says She's Too Busy Running For Reelection To Attend Court Trials: 'It's An Impossibility'

In an unusual case from the US, a Portland judge has requested to be recused from her scheduled trial duties to focus on her reelection campaign. In a last-minute Microsoft Teams message sent last Friday, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Adrian Brown told colleagues it was an 'impossibility' to oversee trials while facing an election challenge. She requested that other members of the bench cover her upcoming month-long rotation of misdemeanour domestic violence cases, according to a report in The Oregonian.

“None of us should be expected to be in trial while being tried by an election challenge. Indeed it's an impossibility. I wouldn't wish this on any of us," Brown wrote on Microsoft Teams.

Brown, 50, cited electoral challenge from appellate public defender Peter Klym as the reason she was seeking a courtroom substitute. Klym, 39, entered the race just before the March 10 deadline.

“An attorney filed just 30 minutes before the deadline to challenge my reelection, with no notice. I have been on leave this week, not on vacation with my family as I had planned for the last year, but instead at home working well over 50 hours just to ramp up my team, and my campaign," said Brown.

“I was given no notice by my opponent that he would file and therefore no time to gather a team, make a plan and meet deadlines."

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Brown originally won her seat in 2020 after emerging victorious from a crowded field of candidates. She has previously worked for the Oregon US Attorney's Office regarding civil rights issues.

Quizzed about Brown's decision to seek a substitute, her campaign spokeswoman, Kathleen Stuart, told the outlet that she had done nothing wrong.

“She looks forward to being present for the work she loves, presiding over her courtroom and all the cases she is elected to hear,” said Stuart, adding that Brown frequently stepped in for her colleagues.