“Make America Great Again”
A judge has apologised for rocking up to court in a baseball cap emblazoned with a Donald Trump slogan.
Bernd Zabel — who is an experienced judge based in Ontario, Canada — hit headlines late last week, after turning up to work wearing a red hat featuring president-elect Trump’s campaign catchphrase “Make America Great Again”.
According to The Globe and Mail, Zabel strolled into court wearing the cap the day after Trump’s election victory, telling presumably shocked onlookers that he was acknowledging last night’s historic events.
Having taken his seat, a source told the newspaper that “he took the hat off and put it on the bench so everybody could look while he continued his court business.”
Claiming that it was all one big joke, Zabel, speaking to a local news station yesterday, said:
I wish to apologise for my misguided attempt to mark a moment in history by humour in the courtroom, following the surprising result in the United States election. I acknowledge that wearing the hat is a breach of the principals of judicial office and was a lapse in judgement that I sincerely regret
With the Brexit Supreme Court challenge less than a month away, our own judges are being placed under increased scrutiny. Yesterday Lady Hale came under fire from pro-leavers for commenting on the Article 50 case during a speech to Malaysian law students.
If you are reading Supreme Court judges, perhaps give the ‘EU till I die’ hats a miss on 5 December.