A municipal judge charged with making sexist remarks while hearing a domestic violence matter—such as "we get frustrated with the women human beings"—has acknowledged violating ethics strictures with his remarks, while also laying out the training he has undertaken in the time since.

Steven Brister, a part-time judge in the East Orange Municipal Court and acting judge in Newark Municipal Court, filed an answer admitting that his "conduct was injudicious and the commentary inappropriate."

Brister said the courtroom comments, which referenced biblical verses on Adam and Eve in the context of domestic violence, "improperly relied upon religious concepts" and "also drew distinctions between males and females which are anathema to our principles of anti-discrimination decision-making applicable in litigation."

"To the extent that the colloquy inferred an inequality or other distinction between males and females, it must be identified as prohibited and remediated," added the answer, filed Dec. 1 on Brister's behalf by Newark attorney Alan Dexter Bowman and made public the next day.

According to the answer, Brister received a "private letter of censure" days after the court hearing at issue, which occurred earlier this year. The letter's sender is not named in the document.

Bowman didn't return a call about the case. The Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, through a judiciary spokeswoman, declined to comment on the answer or to reveal the source of the censure letter.

Since receiving the letter, Brister said, he "undertook various steps to cure the issue of gratuitous improper commentary in the form of life or spiritual advice and comparisons."

Those steps, according to the answer, include "an ongoing course of private counseling on maintaining a bias-free courtroom with Paulette Brown"—former American Bar Association president, partner and chief diversity and inclusion officer at Locke Lord, and previously a municipal court judge herself.

"Simply stated, judges must always be in compliance with judicial norms and cannot relax the atmosphere of dignity austerity and decorum for which they are solely responsible. Respondent has a much deeper understanding and sensitivity to the negative impact of words and advice which not rooted in jurisprudence," Brister's answer said.

A formal complaint lodged against Brister by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct dated Oct. 22 charged him with violating several canons of the Judicial Code of Conduct, including: Canon 2, Rule 2.1, which requires judges to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety and to act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary; and Canon 2, Rule 2.2, which requires judges to decide cases according to the law and facts and not permit family, social, political, financial or other relationships or interests to influence their judicial conduct or judgment.

According to the complaint, the hearing at issue occurred in East Orange Municipal Court on Feb. 21, and involved a male defendant detained in county jail with five domestic violence charges pending against him who appeared before Brister via video link from jail.

Brister allegedly told the defendant, that "as a man," he could relate to his frustration and spoke of the male effort to "straighten out that curve"—alluding to physical features women are born with, as well as biblical teachings. "I can speak to you as a man [because] I am a man as well. We get frustrated with the women human beings," Brister continued, according to the complaint. "No matter how much you try, or how you try to straighten out that curve, you can never do it."

Continuing, Brister likened women to boxer Leon Spinks while discouraging the defendant from coming at them as if he were Mike Tyson. "We get frustrated … but, in our frustration you can't come at them like you Mike Tyson and they're in the ring like they're Leon Spinks," Brister is quoted as saying. "You can't do it. You can't punch, you can't hit. At best, you treat as if you're holding a feather, just to let them know you're the man and you're in control."

On July 30, the complaint said, Brister appeared before the ACJC for an informal conference, where he was asked: "What's the curve that women were created with?" Brister, according to the document, replied, "When I was young, I was altar boy and so it says Adam was created from the curved rib of a man. So if you believe in a creation from a higher power, then that curve is the creation of the woman with the curve of the rib of Adam."

According to the answer, four weeks before the informal conference with the ACJC, Brister met with Anthony Frasca, presiding judge of the East Orange Municipal Court, and Frasca also observed Brister on the bench and in chambers. "Judge Frasca stressed that it is vital for the future that respondent omit extraneous, irrelevant references to religious beliefs and practices, irrelevant comments about human sexuality and other comments that may have any tendency to demonstrate bias," the answer said. "Judge Frasca devoted an enormous amount of his time to counseling and training respondent. He also indicated that his door is always open for further training and counseling."

Brister also has completed four CLE courses on judicial ethics since making the courtroom remarks, according to the answer.