The Tennessee judge who ordered a young mother to change her baby’s name from Messiah to Martin has been fired from her post.
Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew of Cocke County made the decision last August, over the objections of Messiah’s parents when they appeared before her seeking to settle other issues. She told the parents that the name was reserved for Jesus Christ.
Both the mother, Jaleesa Martin, and the father, Jawaan McCullough, were insisting on their respective surnames for baby Messiah. Ballew instead threw out the child’s birth name and ordered the boy renamed Martin DeShawn McCullough.
But last Friday, O. Duane Slone, presiding judge of the state’s fourth judicial district, terminated Ballew’s appointment.
The reason? Slone didn’t give one in his order, but it is known that Ballew was cited in the past by the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct for an inappropriate religious bias.
She could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
The board’s chair, Judge Chris Craft of Shelby County, said in a statement that the board still has jurisdiction over Ballew, even though she is no longer on the bench.
Craft wrote that it is the duty of the board to inquire into the “commission of any act calculated to reflect unfavorably upon the judiciary of the state.”
And just in case you were wondering about little Messiah, the parents appealed, and another judge held that Ballew’s ruling was unconstitutional.
SOURCE: Reuters | PHOTO CREDIT: Screengrab
