Bar room brawls have been around for as long as bar rooms and people have been around, so no big surprise to hear of another in the news. Unless one of the people involved happens to be one of the nine justices on the Supreme Court of Canada.
I know every Canadian has a bit of hockey in their blood, so when the benches clear, even the judges are going over the boards.
According to the Vancouver Sun, Russell Brown, appointed by Stephen Harper back in 2015, was the justice involved in the dust-up at an Arizona Spa in late January. According to the complainant, one Jonathan Crump of Philadelphia, Brown was “drunk and obnoxious” and harassing a group of patrons at the high-end resort’s bar and lounge. Brown was in town to attend a tribute to former Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour.
Brown has called the allegations “demonstrably false,” which in judge-speak means that they’re not true.
Brown had left the Arbour function he was attending and decided to pop into the resort bar for a bit of a night-cap. While there, he was invited to join a party sitting nearby, one that included Philadelphia’s Mr. Crump. Both sides agree that Crump left his party for a time while Brown remained, but then returned as the group was departing for another location. Apparently Mr. Brown was invited to go along, something Mr. Crump objected to. Crump says the drunken Brown shoved him. Everyone agrees that Crump punched Brown at least twice in the face, punches the justice did not return.
Of course, there are many types of truth, so we’re going to have to go with eight filled chairs on the nine-person Supreme Court until this gets resolved.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 