The bad judge: to hang or not to hang?

What do you do with a “very painterly” portrait of a judge who was disgraced for his corruption and spent time in jail for it? For years, the portrait of the judge in question hung in the chambers of Judge Charles Brieant, a federal district judge in New York. Brieant, who had paid for the portrait to be cleaned and frequently showed it off, apparently enjoyed the irony and reminder of judicial fallibility.

But Brieant died last summer, and now there is an interesting debate happening over what to do with this particular reminder of an episode of “unspeakable embarrassment.” Read more about it in the New York Times.

Photo by mdog on Flickr.

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