NJ Judge Tells Man It’s OK To Show Women ‘You’re In Control’

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A part-time judge in East Orange is under fire after allegedly telling a defendant it’s acceptable to let women know “you’re the man and you’re in control.”

On Thursday, the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct (ACJC) filed a formal complaint against Steven Brister, who serves as a municipal judge in East Orange. Brister also serves as an acting judge in the City of Newark Municipal Court as needed.

According to the ACJC complaint, the comment took place when Brister was speaking with a defendant facing multiple domestic violence charges via video link from the county jail on Feb. 21.

During the video conference, Brister allegedly told the man:

“I'm going to tell you what I tell a lot of people with this same charge. Because all of these charges are the same. We, as men, and I can speak to you as a man, [because] I am a man as well. We get frustrated with the women human beings. Because we try to straighten out a creation, [because] they [were] created with a curve. But we as men, we think we [are] above creation and we can straighten it out. No matter how much you try, or how you try to straighten out that curve, you can never do it. We get frustrated and then but, in our frustration, you can't come at them like you [are] Mike Tyson and they're in the ring like they're Leon Spinks. You can't do it. You can't punch, you can't hit. At best, you treat as if you're holding a feather, just to let them know you're the man and you're in control. But in each of these five complaints it said you went at them like Mike Tyson.”

During an informal conference before the committee on July 30, Brister was asked “What's the curve that women were created with?”

According to the ACJC, Brister’s reply was:

“But when I was young, I was altar boy and so it says Adam was created from the curved rib of a man. So if you believe in a creation from a higher power, then that curve is the creation of the woman with the curve of the rib of Adam.”

In their complaint, the ACJC wrote that Brister’s reference to women and the manner in which men should treat them was “inappropriate, disparaging to women and had the potential to create the appearance of a gender bias.”

The ACJC subsequently accused Brister of “assimilating his personal religious beliefs into his judicial role.” In addition, he “demonstrated an inability to conform his conduct to the high standards of conduct expected of judges and impugned the integrity of the Judiciary in violation of Canon I, Rule I. I and Canon 2, Rule 2.1 and Rule 2.2 of the Code of Judicial Conduct,” the committee charged.

Brister is a member of the Bar of the State of New Jersey. He was admitted to the practice of law in 1985.

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