While the Court is on the record with the Oakland County Jail still logged into the record, while the Court in its immediate sitting and view, [appellant] participated in willful disregard to the court\u2019s authority by rendering a gender-based slur to the Court, the word which does not \u2013 \u2013 it does not fairly roll off my tongue as easily as it does [appellant\u2019s] \u2013 \u2013 was, \u201cf*** c<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d That is, wow. Members of staff are also in the courtroom while [Tauber\u2019s client], who the Court has gone back to review this video, appears himself to be in shock that the Court would be called such a thing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n According to Tauber, he believed he was no longer connected to the Zoom (he was attending the virtual hearing from his car, and the screen went black and he mistakenly thought he was disconnected). During the contempt hearing, Tauber\u2019s attorney said he was \u201ctechnologically inept,\u201d and did not intend for anyone else to hear the slur. But the appeals court said just because this happened during a virtual hearing \u201cdoes not preclude a finding that misconduct or insolent behavior by an attorney constitutes contempt.\u201d<\/p>\n The appellate court also shot down the argument that Tauber\u2019s action weren\u2019t willful because they were uttered in frustration. <\/p>\n \u201cBut, the term \u2018willful\u2019 for purposes of criminal contempt does not require such an intention. Rather, the willful disregard consists of a statement that tends to impair the court\u2019s authority or impedes its functioning.\u201d The court continued, \u201cDemeaning or belittling the trial court, particularly in front of a client, erodes the public\u2019s confidence in the judicial system.\u201d<\/p>\n Tauber told the ABA Journal <\/a>he intends to appeal the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court:<\/p>\n \u201cWhen your activities are in that gray area of the ether where the court controls when you\u2019re off the so-called air, when are you out of the court?\u201d Tauber says in an ABA Journal interview. \u201cI thought I was out of the court when I said thank you, your honor.\u201d<\/p>\n Tauber estimates that six to eight seconds elapsed between the time he thanked the judge and when he made the remarks.<\/p>\n \u201cThey weren\u2019t directed at her, they weren\u2019t intended to be insulting to her, they were just my thought at that moment,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t think I was in the courtroom.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That sure doesn\u2019t read like the airtight defense he seems to think it is.<\/p>\n The post Turns Out, You Shouldn\u2019t Call The Judge A \u2018F*cking C*nt\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n This tale of attorney discipline is one part tech failure and one part petty misogyny,\u00a0and none of it is a good look. Judge Yasmine I. Pole ruled against Tauber\u2019s client, and at the close of the Zoom hearing he was heard saying: \u201cJudge \u2013 \u2013 thank you. F****** c***.\u201d<\/p>\n Yikes town! The trial court described the incident as follows:<\/p>\n While the Court is on the record with the Oakland County Jail still logged into the record, while the Court in its immediate sitting and view, [appellant] participated in willful disregard to the court\u2019s authority by rendering a gender-based slur to the Court, the word which does not \u2013 \u2013 it does not fairly roll off my tongue as easily as it does [appellant\u2019s] \u2013 \u2013 was, \u201cf*** c<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d That is, wow. Members of staff are also in the courtroom while [Tauber\u2019s client], who the Court has gone back to review this video, appears himself to be in shock that the Court would be called such a thing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n According to Tauber, he believed he was no longer connected to the Zoom (he was attending the virtual hearing from his car, and the screen went black and he mistakenly thought he was disconnected). During the contempt hearing, Tauber\u2019s attorney said he was \u201ctechnologically inept,\u201d and did not intend for anyone else to hear the slur. But the appeals court said just because this happened during a virtual hearing \u201cdoes not preclude a finding that misconduct or insolent behavior by an attorney constitutes contempt.\u201d<\/p>\n The appellate court also shot down the argument that Tauber\u2019s action weren\u2019t willful because they were uttered in frustration. <\/p>\n \u201cBut, the term \u2018willful\u2019 for purposes of criminal contempt does not require such an intention. Rather, the willful disregard consists of a statement that tends to impair the court\u2019s authority or impedes its functioning.\u201d The court continued, \u201cDemeaning or belittling the trial court, particularly in front of a client, erodes the public\u2019s confidence in the judicial system.\u201d<\/p>\n Tauber told the ABA Journal <\/a>he intends to appeal the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court:<\/p>\n \u201cWhen your activities are in that gray area of the ether where the court controls when you\u2019re off the so-called air, when are you out of the court?\u201d Tauber says in an ABA Journal interview. \u201cI thought I was out of the court when I said thank you, your honor.\u201d<\/p>\n Tauber estimates that six to eight seconds elapsed between the time he thanked the judge and when he made the remarks.<\/p>\n \u201cThey weren\u2019t directed at her, they weren\u2019t intended to be insulting to her, they were just my thought at that moment,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t think I was in the courtroom.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That sure doesn\u2019t read like the airtight defense he seems to think it is.<\/p>\n 20250930_c371447_41_371447.opn<\/a>Download<\/a><\/p>\n This tale of attorney discipline is one part tech failure and one part petty misogyny,\u00a0and none of it is a good look. A Michigan appeals court upheld the criminal contempt finding against attorney Marshall Tauber, decision available below, for comments he made at the close of a Zoom hearing. Judge Yasmine I. Pole ruled against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":135111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-oG6PDu.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/03\/GettyImages-1356264506-300x300.jpg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")
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A Michigan appeals court upheld the criminal contempt finding against attorney Marshall Tauber, decision available below, for comments he made at the close of a Zoom hearing.<\/p>\n\n
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\nKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @[email\u00a0protected].<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"