A federal judge in Texas is facing a judicial misconduct investigation after a Latino civil rights attorney accused her of repeatedly directing racially charged remarks at him during a court hearing, including questioning his identity and suggesting he used his perceived whiteness to position himsel f as a defender of Black people. U.S. District Judge Ada Brown, appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019, faces allegations stemming from an April 24, 2026, hearing involving attorney Ezra Young. The hearing concerned whether Young should face sanctions in a lawsuit challenging Southern Methodist University’s denial of tenure to a Black woman professor. U.S. District Judge Ada Brown was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019. (Photo Credit: Attorney at Law Magazine) Young filed a formal complaint after the hearing, arguing that Brown used her authority to attack his character and undermine his work as a civil rights lawyer. The complaint helped prompt an investigation that led to Brown temporarily losing her court docket earlier this month. A special judicial committee has also ordered her to undergo a psychiatric examination as part of the inquiry, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg Law. Louisiana Prosecutor Compared Black Teen to a Dog While Seeking His Execution, Hid Evidence in 3 Death Penalty Cases — Now He Wants a Judge’s Robe Black Mom Pulls Daughters from Texas High School After Racist Taunts Turn Into Brutal Cafeteria Brawl During the hearing, Brown repeatedly characterized Young as white despite his explanation that he is Latino. She also accused him of displaying hostility toward Black attorneys and portrayed his involvement in the case as an attempt to act as a white savior. “I think what’s happening here, quite candidly, is you are very intimidated for some reason, Mr. Young, with Black excellence, in light of your white mediocrity,” Brown said, according to the hearing transcript. “I mean, you look like a white man, right?” Young corrected her, telling the judge, “I’m not white, your honor,” and explaining that he is Latino. Brown responded by asking whether he was “white-presenting.” Young described himself as fair-skinned, but Brown continued to invoke white privilege while questioning his arguments in the underlying case. At another point, Brown told Young, “You’re the white savior, come to save all the stupid Black lawyers in Texas who need your help, from New York,” according to the transcript. Young later said that the suggestion that he harbored anti-Black prejudice disgusted and mortified him. He argued that Brown’s comments disregarded his repeated statements about his Latino identity. The exchange came after years of tension between the judge and the attorney, whose work on the tenure dispute has largely taken place in appellate courts. Young joined the case in 2022, four years after it first entered federal court. The underlying lawsuit accuses Southern Methodist University of improperly denying tenure to a Black woman professor. Brown had previously questioned whether Young should face sanctions after a 2023 hearing, and later revoked his permission to represent the professor in her courtroom. The April hearing also focused on a headline describing the tenure dispute after it reached the Supreme Court of Texas. The article referenced a legal brief that quoted another law professor who apparently compared the plaintiff’s treatment to a “lynching.” Brown accused Young of manufacturing the quotation to attract attention. “And so when I read a headline — a sensationalized, very racialized headline that says, ‘it’s like I’ve been lynched,’ and it’s literally got no connection to this case, I have to ask you, Mr. Social Media, Main Character Chad, White Hero, Savior, Loves to Help Black People Be An Ally, where the lynching in this case came from?” Brown said. Young disputed Brown’s characterization of his conduct and said no one else had accused him of anti-Black bias. When he attempted to explain his work supporting Black professors and other clients, Brown interrupted him. “Can I pause and just tell you, I appreciate, on behalf of Black people, your white saviordom,” Brown said. “Your Honor, again, I’m not white,” Young replied. He later suggested that Brown might be retaliating against him because he had raised concerns about her conduct with the Fifth Circuit. Brown denied the allegation of retaliation. Young told Bloomberg Law that he had anticipated an unusual hearing but found the experience deeply troubling. “This was a degree of conflict and what seemed like a judge using her position of power on top of what I’ve come to believe is an obvious disability that I think is disqualifying, trying…to prevent a civil rights litigant and her lawyer from using the civil rights laws to do what they’re supposed to do,” Young said. He also said he had previously sought advice from others about Brown’s conduct, including a senior judge on the Second Circuit, and that judge reported concerns about Brown to the Fifth Circuit. Young declined to identify the judge. In the hours after the April hearing, Young submitted a statement to the Fifth Circuit. He wrote that he was “extremely concerned that Judge Brown is using her judicial role to slander me, harm my professional reputation, and to try to sow discord in my professional and private life.” Brown defended her conduct in a 76-page written response dated July 28. She denied having a mental health condition and rejected the claim that her behavior during the hearing was inappropriate. “I do not believe my demeanor was inappropriate at any time, especially during the candid conversations about race,” Brown wrote. She maintained that Young had displayed troubling behavior toward Black attorneys and women that he did not show toward white men. Still, Brown acknowledged that she might have approached parts of the discussion differently, and asked the chief judge to consider her willingness to learn from the incident and work with more experienced judges. Brown’s conduct has drawn scrutiny beyond her exchanges with Young, however, with a separate judicial investigation identifying a broader pattern of alleged misconduct that led to her temporary suspension from hearing cases. As Reuters reported, the Fifth Circuit Judicial Council made portions of the investigation public after Brown widely circulated confidential materials related to the proceedings. The inquiry found a reasonable basis to conclude that a mental health condition could be interfering with her judicial responsibilities. Investigators cited what they described as “aberrant and inappropriate comments,” racial insults directed at judges and court staff, and unsubstantiated allegations that others were entering orders in her cases, which prompted her to request an investigation by the Texas Rangers. The investigation also found that Brown had recused herself from 40 cases since June for unexplained or unusual reasons and had accumulated a substantial backlog after years of delays in ruling on motions. The council described the delays as a “dereliction” of her duties. Brown has also accused judges, attorneys and court staff of retaliating against her because of her race or gender, according to the court’s order. The committee ordered Brown to undergo a psychiatric examination in September, and the council temporarily reassigned her cases and barred new assignments. Court documents said Brown had failed to answer numerous questions during the inquiry and had discussed resigning. Andre Davis, a former federal appeals court judge who also served as a trial judge in Baltimore, said the allegations, if supported by the evidence, suggest a serious pattern of misconduct. “If the investigation of the matters at issue were to conclude on the current facts, without consideration of any potential information bearing on mitigation, the case for removal of a judge, at the state or federal level, would be compelling,” Davis said. Trump-Appointed Judge Berates Lawyer Representing Black Professor, Calls Him a ‘White Savior’ — Now She Faces Misconduct Probe ...read more read less