A little more news from Boston:

Massachusetts is one of a very few states which appoint judges for life. It's kinda hard to get kicked off the bench in Massachusetts.

Consider, for instance, the case of Judge Maria Lopez. The furor started when Lopez sentenced a child molestor to house arrest and probation for kidnapping a little boy and making him perform a sex act with a screwdriver held to his neck. She told the prosecutors that transsexuals were "not violent people", and shouted them down in open court when they tried to remind her that this one was. Then, when the sentence became controversial, she tried to start a whispering campaign against the victim; then, when investigations into her conduct started, she lied about that. Under oath.

And the retired judge who was assigned to rule on the case, and has written a 234-page report acknowledging pretty much all of that, thinks that pattern of acts -- particularly the lies under oath -- merits strong sanction. He thinks she should take a few months to think things over, and apologize. But if she does, she can stay on the bench.

It's kinda hard to get kicked off the bench in Massachusetts.