An unvaccinated judge who serves on the bench upstate is suing New York courts for “paradoxically” barring her from the courthouse while allowing her inside as a lawyer, new court papers show.
Judge Jennifer Donlon – one of two part-time judges in Hornell City court in Steuben County – claims her applications for both religious and medical exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine were denied without explanation, according to her Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit from Thursday.
The Hornell native – appointed to the judgeship in 2017 – is not allowed to take the bench in the Hornell City courthouse and can only preside over cases remotely, the suit says.
Yet “when Judge Donlon is not sitting on the bench, she practices law as a solo practitioner” and “was the first female solo practitioner in the city,” her suit says.
All court employees, including judges, were required to be vaccinated by Sept. 27, 2021. The rule wouldn’t apply to a private lawyer like Donlon, who isn’t an employee of the court.
“Paradoxically though … [she] can enter the courthouse as an attorney but not as a judge,” her lawsuit alleges.
Donlon claims the contradiction shows the vaccine policy “is purely arbitrary and capricious,” according to the suit.
Donlon’s suit, which named the NY Unified Court System and the NY Office of Court Administration as defendants, is seeking to overturn the denial barring her from the bench in-person.
As one of the few judges in the state to refuse the jab, Donlon says “she is an outcast,” and that it’ll be hard for her to get a judge who wouldn’t have a bias in overseeing the case.
“Ms. Donlon begins these proceedings on an uneven playing field,” the suit charges. “This Court’s task is not an easy one.”
Donlon asks whichever judge is assigned to the case to “treat her as Your Honor would expect to be treated if the roles were reversed,” the court papers say.
NY Courts spokesman Lucian Chalfen told The Post that “as we have not been served and this is pending litigation, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
