Las Vegas DSA Steering Committee Stands in Solidarity With Judge Erika Ballou

One of our members, Erika Ballou, a Clark County judge, was suspended without pay by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline for 6 months. The official reason: refusing to send a single Black mother to jail.

Judge Erika Ballou did what most people would hope for in a judge and that’s showing compassion. The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline thinks differently though, calling her compassion a bias against the prosecutors. We at Las Vegas DSA do not see compassion as a bias and we stand with Erika Ballou.

We are against this suspension and attack on the livelihood of one of our members from a biased court system which disproportionately targets Black and Brown people. Judge Ballou served as a public defender for 15 years and was sworn in as a judge in 2021. She has faced constant attacks from the court system because of her compassion.In 2022, she was attacked by the Las Vegas Police Protective Association and Joe Lombardo who called on her to resign for “anti-police” rhetoric. Even before being sworn in as a judge she was attacked as a public defender for wearing a Black Lives Matter pin.

We at LVDSA see the double standards of a system which targets judges that show compassion to marginalized people and their struggle against an unjust system. We call on community leaders, elected officials, and the people of Las Vegas to defend Judge Ballou and condemn the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline’s decision to suspend her.