A Houston lawyer was fired from his law firm in February after he sent a “harassing” letter to a federal judge that asked, “Who do you think you are?”
Attorney Ben Aderholt penned the disrespectful missive on his firm’s letterhead and mailed it to U.S. immigration Judge Erica Hughes, who said Aderholt “started off in the wrong direction” by addressing the judge by her first name.
“I was shocked and surprised to receive that letter,” Hughes told Fox 26 in Houston.
Hughes was elected as a criminal court judge in Harris County in 2018 before she was appointed to the federal bench in the Biden administration.
She immediately went public with the letter to call out the blatant disrespect toward Black female judges.
“Calling me Erica, as if we are friends or as if he knows me, started off in the wrong direction,” she said, pointing out that the letter became “progressively worse.”
Aderholt’s now former law firm, Coats-Rose, issued a statement in late February announcing the lawyer’s termination after he “practiced poor judgment.”
In the letter, Aderholt reportedly mocked judicial officials as “political animals who treat our judiciary as political games.”
Judge Hughes said she was appalled.
“The ‘animals’ part stands out to me, that an individual in 2024 would show such disdain for an individual they’ve never met,” she said.
Hughes said the presence of several Black female judicial candidates, including herself, is continuing to inflame tensions throughout Houston, leading to multiple lawsuits.
“I expect to be attacked when I serve in the military. I don’t expect to be attacked when I run for a political position in a party, in a democracy in the United States,” she said.
Hughes was elected and rose to the federal bench at a time when many Black female judicial candidates faced scrutiny over their eligibility or qualifications, and in this case, led to an overt challenge to the judge’s authority.
“So no one could attack my qualifications,” Hughes said. “This was another way to try to get me removed from the ballot,” which she said failed.
The letter from Aderholt arrived after the Texas Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit that claimed Hughes forged 102 signatures on a petition to keep her name on the ballot in the next election.
“So in criminal court, that’s 102 allegations and punishable by a felony, two to 10 years in jail. It’s false, of course,” she explained.
Hughes defended her qualifications and blasted the legacy of slavery, which she said was evident in the discriminatory treatment she faced.
“It’s very disheartening, in 2024, I receive letters like this calling me an animal, calling me by my first name. I reference the year because of the history in this country, of slavery. I don’t expect that in 2024. Democracy is what this country was built on. I served in the military, so I can run as a judicial candidate in a free country, as long as I’m qualified,” Hughes said.
In a statement to Fox 26, Aderholt said his use of company letterhead to pen the note to the judge violated the firm’s policy. He acknowledged that this action “was unintentional and careless but was an error of judgment.” He apologized for using the firm’s letterhead but did not apologize for insulting the judge.
Coats-Rose confirmed that Aderholt was fired due to the threatening nature of what he wrote, not because of his use of the firm’s letterhead.
