California Judge Out-Akins Todd Akins

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&searchterm=judge&search_group=&orient=&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&commercial_ok=&color=&show_color_wheel=1#id=98462996&src=6a90e56d0a3570232178ac492df7178f-1-28">justasc</a>/Shutterstock

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Newly revealed court documents in California show a Superior Court judge in Orange County was out-Akining Todd Akin way back in 2008.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the state agency dealing with judicial misconduct has reprimanded Superior Court Judge Derek G. Johnson for telling a woman she should have put up more of a fight against a former boyfriend who raped her:

“I’m not a gynecologist, but I can tell you something,” the judge said, according to documents released Thursday. “If someone doesn’t want to have sexual intercourse, the body shuts down. The body will not permit that to happen unless a lot of damage in inflicted, and we heard nothing about that in this case.”

“That tells me that the victim in this case, although she wasn’t necessarily willing, she didn’t put up a fight.”

The judge, who has been on the Orange County Superior Court since 2000, also declared the rape “technical,” and not “a real, live criminal case.”

Wow, so not only can women’s bodies shut down a rapist’s sperm to prevent a pregnancy (which is what Todd Akin claimed earlier this year), but now apparently it can actually stop the rape from happening at all. 

This is actually more disturbing than Akin’s comments, because the judge has the ability to determine things like how long a rapist stays in jail, or whether he even goes there in the first place.

I have no idea what happened to the poor woman in this case, whose ex-boyfriend apparently threatened to mutilate her with a hot screwdriver. But Judge Johnson is still on the bench.

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This investigative reporting takes time too. Months of research. Weeks of writing, editing, and fact checking—and putting together the photography, art, video, and audio that tell the stories in a new way, illuminating new perspectives and voices.

We can afford to take our time because we don’t report to oligarchs or corporations. We report to you, and for you.

And the stakes are high. Democracy is on the defense. We’ve been exposing corruption and scandal for five decades, and this is a pivotal moment in our country’s history. Will democracy prevail? We won’t wait for time to tell—independent journalism is essential for democracy, and we’ll keep doing our part to amplify the free press.

So, we’re asking: Will you join the fight? Mother Jones has been here for 50 years, and we need your support to fuel the future of investigative journalism. Mark our 50th anniversary with a gift of any amount.

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