Gwinnett County Magistrate judge James A. Hinkle has reportedly resigned after being suspended for comments he made on Facebook.
Chief Magistrate Judge Kristina Hammer Blum said in a statement at about 6:30 p.m. that Judge James A. Hinkle “offered his immediate resignation from his position as a part-time Magistrate.”
“For 14 years, Judge Hinkle has dutifully served this Court. He is a lifelong public servant and former Marine,” Blum said. “However, he has acknowledged that his statements on social media have disrupted the mission of this court, which is to provide justice for all.”
The violence during a Charlottesville, Virginia, rally by white nationalists last weekend has stoked calls to remove Confederate statues in other parts of the South.
Hinkle wrote about the controversy on his Facebook page Saturday, saying: “It looks like all of the snowflakes have no concept of history. ... Get over it and move on.” A follow-up post Tuesday complained of “the nut cases tearing down monuments.”
The “nut case tearing down monuments,” line had an addendum as WSBTV explained.
In another post, he observed how all the Confederate monuments in Virginia have the rear ends of horses facing north, he wrote in all caps: "PERFECT TUESDAY MORNING," and added, "The nut cases tearing down monuments are equivalent to ISIS destroying history."
That was a dumb thing to say. Frankly, it shows a lack of judgement on his part—oh.