The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has suspended without pay an admittedly intemperate family court judge for four years. This just happens to be the remaining years of Putnam County Circuit Court Family Law Judge William M. Watkins III's term. More than 200,000 viewers have watched a YouTube video of a particularly vituperous rant during a hearing in a family law case. Judge Watkins repeatedly told a pastor appearing before him to "shut up." The court of appeals quoted significant portions of the transcript showing the judge's inappropriate language.

The YouTube video was, in a word, amazing. However, since I viewed it about a week ago on YouTube, it has been replaced with this image: