Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt has been rocking headgear with strong anti-Trump symbolism: The Pussy hat. To say it’s politically charged is like saying third-rails are shocking: These hats are pointed symbols in opposition to President Donald Trump, who said in an infamous 2005 video that he grabbed women by their privates. That footage became controversial because the action meets legal definitions of sexual assault if done without consent.
News of Eckhardt’s fashion choice started spreading with a now-partially deleted Reddit post from late January. KVUE later picked up the story and started looking into it. Can the Texas judge wear a hat with strong political connotations? Well, yes. Because she’s not a judge in the conventional sense.
From their story a couple of weeks ago:
KVUE’s Jason Puckett reached out to multiple county departments to verify that this behavior was acceptable and found that almost every source he spoke with agreed – Eckhardt is in the clear.
Meanwhile, the County Attorney office told the outlet they haven’t gotten any complaints, and Judge Eckhardt’s office declined to comment.
Clarification is important here: This Democratic politician is actually Travis County’s top executive, an elected official who leads the Commissioners Court. Here’s the official description of her job [emphasis ours]:
The County Judge is the presiding officer and a voting member of the Travis County Commissioners Court. In the role of presiding officer, the County Judge sets the Court’s weekly voting session agenda, and is often thought of as the chief administrator of the County through the Court´s responsibility for approving annual budgets for the entire County. In large counties like Travis, the County Judge no longer exercises judicial functions as a probate or constitutional county court judge, though the office retains the power to conduct marriages and may also be called upon to conduct administrative hearings.
So it’s not like a Supreme Court justice it wearing the hat.
[Screengrab via KVUE]
