Thurgood Marshall Bar Association Calls On Spitzer To Resign
“District Attorney Todd Spitzer has taken a series of actions that can be described as nothing short of racist,” the legal group said in a statement.
The Thurgood Marshall Bar Association, an affiliate of the Orange County Bar Association committed to supporting the Black legal community in the county, today called for the resignation of Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.
“District Attorney Todd Spitzer has taken a series of actions that can be described as nothing short of racist,” the legal group said in a statement. The group not only called for Spitzer’s resignation, but also urged the Attorney General to investigate “systemic and institutional racism within the policies and practices of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.”
The group even placed their call for Spitzer’s resignation on the front page of their website:
In recent weeks, Spitzer has been mired in a hailstorm of controversy. National and local media have reported on allegations of Spitzer riffing on why Black men date white women to his top prosecutors, doing so while they discussed whether his office should execute a Black man. A newly surfaced video of Spitzer repeating the n-word three times went viral. The ACLU found that Spitzer’s office is perpetuating “vast racial disparities” in prosecutions. And there are multiple workplace lawsuits from prosecutors that claim Spitzer fostered a hostile workplace, including a prosecutor who alleges Spitzer sought a Black woman as lead prosecutor on a case because of her race and told his senior leadership team he needed a “brown or black face” to join a meeting with the NAACP.
These statements have been described as “racist” by the Los Angeles Times, “anti-Black” in the pages of the Voice of OC, and “racially charged” by the Orange County Register. The statements have also led to a major loss of support for Spitzer. Nearly 20 elected prosecutors have rescinded endorsements of Spitzer, including close allies like Republican District Attorney Mike Hestrin in Riverside County. In fact, so many DAs have bailed on Spitzer that he has removed the entire list from his campaign website. But it’s not just DAs. Groups like the conservative California Women’s Leadership Association have also retracted their support. Others, such as the NAACP California and the National Urban League, have called for Spitzer’s resignation.