By Tim Ghianni
NASHVILLE, Oct 25 (Reuters) – A Tennessee judge who ordered
a baby’s name changed from Messiah to Martin, saying the former
was reserved for Jesus Christ, has been cited by a court panel
for an inappropriate religious bias in violation of the state
judicial code of conduct.
Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew of Cocke County in
eastern Tennessee ordered the boy’s first name changed over the
objections of both parents when they appeared before the judge
seeking to settle a number of issues, including a dispute over
the child’s last name.
Both the mother, Jaleesa Martin, and the father, Jawaan
McCullough, were insisting on their respective surnames for baby
Messiah. The magistrate instead threw out the child’s birth name
and ordered the boy renamed Martin DeShawn McCullough.
“The word ‘messiah’ is a title, and it’s a title that has
only been earned by one person, and that one person is Jesus
Christ,” the magistrate told Tennessee television station WBIR
at the time.
The parents appealed, and in September another judge,
Chancellor Telford Forgety Jr., held that Ballew’s ruling was
unconstitutional.
The parents, who have since dropped their dispute over the
last name, have continued to call the boy Messiah DeShawn
McCullough.
A three-member investigative panel of the Tennessee Board of
Judicial Conduct concluded this week there was “reasonable cause
to believe (Ballew) has committed judicial offenses,” and
directed the state board’s disciplinary counsel to file the
charges, according to a document obtained from a court clerk.
The judicial code the panel cited centers on a clause that
says religion and other personal biases must not play roles when
judges are performing their duties.
Ballew could not be reached for comment.
Ballew has 30 days to file an answer with the court, at
which time a hearing will be scheduled “to impose just and
proper sanctions as provided by law,” according to the document
outlining the charges against the judge.
Messiah was the 387th most popular name for boys born in the
United States in 2012, based on applications for Social Security
cards filed with the U.S. Social Security Administration.
In all, there were 762 applications for boys named Messiah
in 2012, more than double the 368 applications made in 2011, the
Social Security Administration said.
(Reporting by Tim Ghianni; Editing by Steve Gorman, Alex
Dobuzinskis and Philip Barbara)
