Bernhard noted that his usual courtroom has no portraits. But jury trials that were postponed during the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...pandemics are now being held in larger courtrooms. The walls of those rooms are lined with portraits of retired judges who are overwhelmingly white, he said.
Public defenders raised the issue in a motion titled "Motion to Remove Portraiture Overwhelmingly Depicting White Jurists Hanging in Trial Courtroom."
"While to some the issue of portraits might be a trivial matter, to those subject to the justice system it is far from the case," Bernhard wrote in his ruling, issued Sunday.
He said he was concerned that the portraits "may serve as unintended but implicit symbols that suggest the courtroom may be a place historically administered by whites for whites."
Bernhard said 45 of the 47 portraits hanging in the courtrooms are of white jurists.
Prosecutors offered no objection to the request, Bernhard said in his ruling.
Dawn Butorac, the chief public defender in Fairfax County, called the judge’s ruling "a very, very, very small step in a long overdue journey to battle systemic racism" in the judicial system.