Politics & Government
Gwinnett Judge Resigns After 'Snowflakes' and 'Nut Cases' Posts
Judge Jim Hinkle was commenting on efforts to remove Confederate monuments, which exposed other controversial Facebook posts.
LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — A Gwinnett County magistrate judge and longtime local politician has resigned from his court position after being suspended over controversial posts he made on Facebook.
Jim Hinkle, a part-time judge who has served on the court for 14 years, resigned Wednesday, Chief Magistrate Judge Kristina Hammer Blum said in a written statement. Blum had suspended Hinkle indefinitely after his Facebook posts came to light on Saturday.
"For 14 years, Judge Hinkle has dutifully served this court," Blum said in her statement. "He is a lifelong public servant and former Marine. However, he has acknowledged that his statements on social media have disrupted the mission of this Court, which is to provide justice for all."
Over the weekend, Hinkle, who also was mayor of Grayson for two decades, made several posts in which he called people protesting Civil War monuments "snowflakes" and "nut cases," and compared those who would tear down those monuments to radical Islamic group ISIS.
The posts brought to light older controversial posts by Hinkle. In January, the judge posted that he was "proud to be a deplorable infidel," an apparent reference to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's reference to some of now-President Donald Trump's most extreme supporters as "deplorables."
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Last year, on the same day the U.S. Treasury announced that Underground Railroad leader Harriet Tubman would replace President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, Hinkle posted, "Well, the U.S. Treasury has just announced the ugliest $20 bill, or any money ever." Tubman will become the first African-American and second woman ever to be featured on U.S. currency.
In other posts, Hinkle has condemned Islam as a violent religion.
By Wednesday morning, Hinkle appeared to have either deleted his Facebook account or set it to a private setting. But the Atlanta Journal Constitution captured images of his posts before he did so.
"In Charlottesville, everyone is upset over Robert E. Lee statue. It looks like all of the snowflakes have no concept of history," Hinkle wrote Saturday. "It is what it is. Get over it and move on. Leave history alone - those who ignore history are deemed (sic) to repeat the mistake of the past. In Richmond, VA, all of the Confederate monuments on Monument Ave. have people on horses whose asses face North. PERFECT!"
Later, he wrote "The nut cases tearing down monuments are equivalent to ISIS destroying history."
The posts came the same weekend white nationalists from across the nation descended upon Charlottesville, Virginia, spurred at least in part by efforts there to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The ensuing demonstrations, during which many members of the group brandished torches and Nazi and Confederate flags, resulted in violent clashes with some counter-protesters and the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, who was killed when a so-called "alt-right" member slammed his car into a group of anti-racism demonstrators.
In her statement, Blum made clear the suspension came because the posts jeopardized Hinkle's position as an unbiased arbiter of the law.
"My decision to accept Judge Hinkle's resignation is not a comment on his personal opinions; he is entitled to those," she wrote. "While, thankfully, our Constitution protects the right of all citizens to express their opinions, Judges are held to a more stringent standard by the Judicial Canons."
Photo via Gwinnett County Magistrate Court
