Post's Knight praised judge's book targeting "femifascists" but ignored related ethics charges against author

Summary: An Al Knight column in The Denver Post praised the book The Tyranny of Tolerance, which attacks "femifascists" and "illiberal liberals," but it did not note the ethical issues raised by the fact that the author, Robert H. Dierker Jr., is a Missouri circuit court judge.

In his January 24 Denver Post column (an online version appeared January 23), Al Knight praised the book The Tyranny of Tolerance: A Sitting Judge Breaks the Code of Silence to Expose the Liberal Judicial Assault (Random House, December 2006) by Robert H. Dierker Jr. However, Knight failed to mention the controversy or the ethics charges related to the book and its author, a sitting Missouri circuit court judge.

Knight asserted that Dierker's book is "particularly interesting" for its argument that "a misunderstanding of what constitutes 'tolerance' is at the root of what is wrong with the courts":

A sitting judge in Missouri, Robert H. Dierker Jr., has, in his own words, broken the "code of silence to expose the liberal judicial assault." Dierker's book, "The Tyranny of Tolerance," is a compelling account of how the court system has been hijacked.

The book is a call for Americans to "wrest control of our country and our society from judicial philosopher kings" and their supporters in law schools and the mass media.

While Knight notes that Dierker's book "also outlines judicial excesses committed in the name of feminism, gay rights, race discrimination, abortion and concern for the rights of terrorists," he fails to mention the ethical issues concerning Dierker's authorship.

As Colorado Media Matters has noted, the book has raised significant questions about Dierker's ability to rule impartially in court. In the book, Dierker reportedly "frequently uses the terms 'femifascists' " and "illiberal liberals," and devotes the first chapter, titled "The Cloud Cuckooland of Radical Feminism," to attacking feminists. Missouri state Sen. Joan Bray (D-University City) has filed a complaint regarding Dierker with Missouri's Commission on Retirement, Removal and Discipline, citing her concerns about "women in Missouri being treated fairly in the courtroom," according to a December 26 article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The article reported that other judges and lawyers "have said that Dierker may have violated a state rule against a judge using his or her position for personal profit."

—E.B.