Source: DetroitNews.com

The chair of the Oakland County Republican Party called for an Oak Park district court judge to resign after she made what he called a “disgusting” comment on Facebook about the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, a request the judge rejected.

Judge Jaimie Powell Horowitz posted Wednesday evening, hours after Kirk was shot and killed while speaking to Utah Valley University students, a quote from Kirk about gun violence: “I think it’s worth it to have the cost of unfortunately some gun deaths every year..so we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God given rights. It’s a prudent deal, a rational deal.”

“Talk about dying for your beliefs,” Powell Horowitz wrote in the Facebook post.

Kirk, who was an ardent supporter of gun rights, made this comment at a 2023 Turning Point USA event. Powell Horowitz shared a video of Kirk speaking with her post.

Vance Patrick, the chair of the Oakland County Republican Party, called on Powell Horowitz to resign because of this comment.

“Comments like the ones from Judge Horowitz are disgusting,” Patrick said. “Any attempt to justify or lessen the severity of the assassination of Charlie Kirk is a clear indicator of the lack of character and moral fiber of that person. Judge Horowitz should resign immediately to help protect the integrity of our court system.”

Powell Horowitz told The Detroit News on Thursday she will not be resigning, arguing her post was factual. She said the First Amendment right to free speech is important, and people should not be punished or killed for exercising their right.

“The fact that Mr. Kirk — in his own words — had said these kinds of deaths are worth it to protect our Second Amendment rights, as if it’s just something we’re willing to accept for gun rights, I think that’s a quote people should really think about,” Powell Horowitz said. “I hope people will think about his quote, and whether or not gun deaths are worth it for Second Amendment rights. I certainly don’t think his death or others’ death is worth it.

In 2020, Powell Horowitz was elected to the bench of Oak Park’s 45th District Court. Prior to that, she worked as an assistant prosecutor in Wayne County for more than 15 years.

The Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct bans judges from making inaccurate comments on social media, but allows for opinions and facts to be shared.

“When analyzing whether a judicial candidate has violated the canon, … the communication at issue must have conveyed an objectively factual matter,” according to the code of conduct. “An expression of opinion is protected under the canon as long as it does not contain provably false factual connotations.”

State Sen. Jim Runestad, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, said Horowitz should apologize publicly. The timing and content of the judge’s remarks were outrageous, said Runestad, who’s from Oakland County.

“This is a woman that is supposed to have some discernment,” Runestad said of the judge.

In response to comments on her Facebook post about Kirk, Powell Horowitz wrote: “it’s truly awful. Every part of it. His words, his death, the person with a gun who took a life. All of it. Terrible.” and “It is shameful that anyone would say deaths like these are worth it.”

More than 100 comments had been made on Powell Horowitz’s post by mid-morning Thursday, including some saying her post is disgraceful and disturbing, was done in poor taste and that she should be ashamed of herself.

“he thinks a death like his is woth (sic) it. I dont (sic). I would love to see this outrage when i post about current men in power bragging about violence like raping us, beating us, and stripping us of our right to vote,” Powell Horowitz wrote in response to one commenter.

The FBI said Thursday morning that Kirk was shot by a sniper, who they believe jumped off a roof and fled after the shooting. Robert Bohls, the top FBI agent in Salt Lake City, said the shooting was a “targeted event.”

Two people were detained Wednesday, but neither was determined to be connected to the shooting and both were released, public safety officials said.

The FBI on Thursday afternoon released two photos of a person of interest in the assassination, showing an individual in a hat, sunglasses and a long-sleeve black shirt and offered $100,000 for information leading to an arrest.

UM professor faces backlash

There was a similar furor over a Wednesday night social media post by a University of Michigan professor that indicated violence may not be the “answer” but “it is a solution.”

“Even if you believe violence isn’t the answer, it is a solution, especially to the violent conditions and violent rhetoric spewed by empowered people that create them,” wrote Charles H.F. Davis III, an assistant professor at UM’s Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education.

Davis, whose research and classes focus on racism, systems of oppression and structures of domination in higher education, appeared to have made his X page private after posting the message Wednesday evening.

State Sen. Roger Hauck, R-Mount Pleasant, called the post “shameful.”

“This needs a response and action @UMich,” Hauck wrote on X.

The University of Michigan said in a Thursday statement it did not have a position on Davis’ post.

“In accordance with the university’s Institutional Neutrality policy, the university does not take positions on matters not directly connected to university governance,” UM spokesperson Kay Jarvis said. “Faculty members are free to speak and debate issues of the day; but, to be clear, those individual expressions do not represent the views of the university.”

kberg@detroitnews.com