Unlike his judicial colleagues, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman has used the "n-word" in court for years when quoting people in criminal cases, saying it was needed for an accurate record and for understanding the speakers' motives. But three days after a report on his practices by the Chronicle, court officials said Monday that Dorfman has agreed to a change.
"The San Francisco Superior Court recognizes the historical significance of the n-word and the harm it carries in any context or circumstance," the court said in a statement. "While an accurate record is essential, it is equally important to exercise reasonable discretion, even where no ethical or statutory violation has been found.
"The Court is committed to using alternative language when this word arises in court proceedings. Judge Harry M. Dorfman has agreed to proceed in this manner in the future."
Dorfman has not replied to the Chronicle's requests to discuss his practice, and did not immediately respond to an inquiry on his latest decision. But it was welcomed by a leader of a group of retired judges who had criticized his use of the word.
"The n-word is not just another four-letter word. Its use in the courtroom, or anywhere else, for that matter, is not simply a Black issue. It is a human rights issue," said LaDoris Hazard Cordell, a former Santa Clara County Superior Court judge who became the first Black female judge in Northern California when Gov. Jerry Brown appointed her in 1982. She retired in 2001.
Court proceedings, Cordell observed, are not like "Alice in Wonderland," where Humpty Dumpty said, "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." Unlike Humpty Dumpty, she said, "no one has the right to choose the meaning of this racist slur. Its ugly meaning is clear."
And Jeremy Fogel, a former state and federal judge in California who now leads the Judicial Institute at UC Berkeley Law School, said it was "a good resolution" to the dispute.
Dorfman, a white man who is now 69, had been a law professor and a deputy district attorney in San Francisco before Brown appointed him to the court in 2013.
When someone's use of the racial slur is offered to show the speaker's attitudes or motives, judges usually refer to it as the "n-word" or use another euphemism when speaking in court. But Dorfman has insisted on repeating the word during court sessions since at least 2020.
In one case last November, for example, in which a criminal defendant who was undergoing mental health treatment had threatened police and others, the defendant's lawyer quoted the threats without using all of his words. Dorfman, according to a court transcript, promptly told the lawyer that her client had actually said, "I'm going to f - you up, n –. I'm going to beat you up."
Deputy Public Defender Elly Leggatt asked the judge to "refrain from using the 'n-word.' I don't think that's appropriate."
"No, no, no. …These are the facts of the case," the judge replied. "If it's the evidence in the case, it's not casting any insults or offense to anybody." And he ordered Leggatt's client to be held without bail.
In another case, when a defense lawyer said a witness had used the "n-word," as the lawyer put it, Dorfman told the lawyer to "use it when you ask the question. …We deal with information the way things really are in life."
San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju filed a complaint in 2022 with the state's judicial disciplinary agency, the Commission on Judicial Performance, seeking a public censure or admonition and an order for further training. In 2024, the commission issued a one-sentence order, without further explanation, saying it found no basis for action against the judge.
Raju's office later asked the San Francisco Superior Court to take action against Dorfman, but the court refused, also without explanation.
That position apparently changed on Monday, however, when officials of the court, whose leader is Presiding Judge Rochelle East, issued the statement saying the use of the word by judges in court was improper and that Dorfman had agreed to comply.
"Unfortunately, it took public attention to get the court and this judge to take this matter seriously," Raju's office said in a statement. "Our entire office was alarmed by Judge Dorfman's insistence on gratuitously using the full n-word when appropriate alternatives are available and commonly used in courts. We will continue to monitor the situation and hold the court to its promise."
There's more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.
This article originally published at S.F. judge will stop insisting on use of the N-word in court.