You are so right, Joel. Women do get that kind of grief elsewhere, too. A couple of non-Alabamian lawyers have already weighed in here in the comments about similar experiences they’ve had or heard of.

In fact, I first read the al.com story a while back but didn’t write about it immediately, thinking: “I have to research the situation nationwide, or people will say: Well, Alabama is just a judicial freak show.”

That disgraced Supreme Court justice I mention in the lede, the one who ran for the U.S. Senate? He gave out an AR-15-style rifle as a door prize at a big fundraiser in my town. I could hardly believe it when I heard about it from neighbors, so I asked on a community Facebook page if anyone could confirm it. Someone who had attended sent me a photo of the rifle!