A San Francisco judge appointed by a Democratic governor is facing renewed criticism from Black attorneys who say he has repeatedly refused to stop using the N-word in open court.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman, who is white, has been accused of saying the racial slur during courtroom proceedings, prompting anger and concern among Black public defenders in the city.
Deputy Public Defender Phoenix Streets told the San Francisco Chronicle that hearing the word in court brought back painful memories from his childhood in Beebe, Arkansas, where, he said, white men in pickup trucks carrying rifles would pass his home shouting “n––s” and racist chants.
Streets also recalled another degrading childhood encounter, saying the father of one of his white friends once told him, “You’re pretty smart for a n––. You must have some white in you.”
The controversy stems in part from a case last year in which Dorfman quoted a man who had used the slur, reportedly saying the word aloud rather than abbreviating it. In a separate proceeding, when a defense attorney referred to the term without stating it fully, Dorfman allegedly instructed the lawyer to say the entire word.
At one point, a public defender asked the court to stop using the term. Dorfman pushed back, saying, “No, no, no… These are the facts of the case. If it’s the evidence in the case, it’s not casting any insults or offense to anybody.”
In 2022, San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju filed a complaint accusing Dorfman of using the slur “in full in open court.” The complaint argued that the judge failed to recognize “the trauma its utterance inflicts” and did not consider alternatives that could preserve the court record without repeating the word aloud.
No disciplinary action was ultimately taken against Dorfman, and San Francisco Superior Court also declined to intervene after Raju’s office asked for action.
The dispute later escalated on another front when Dorfman held Raju in contempt of court in March and fined him $26,000 after Raju refused to accept additional cases. The penalty amounted to $1,000 for each of the 26 defendants he declined to represent.
Weeks afterward, the First District Court of Appeal stepped in and issued an order preventing enforcement of the fine.
Dorfman was appointed to the San Francisco Superior Court bench in 2013 by former California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat.
