Judge Who Changed Baby's Name From 'Messiah' to 'Martin' is From What County?
by Tommy Christopher
A Tennessee judge has stirred controversy by ordering 7 month-old Messiah DeShawn Martin's first name to be changed to "Martin," on the sound legal basis that ""The word Messiah is a title and it's a title that has only been earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ,"
a ruling that will surely be a crushing disappointment to the likes of Major Garrett, Greg Sargent, and Rep. Steve King (R-IA).
While the ruling itself is truly outrageous, and seems to stand little chance of being upheld, the kicker to this story is the name of the county in which Judge Lu Ann Ballew presides.
Judge Ballew was supposed to be settling a dispute, between Messiah’s parents, over the child’s last name, but took it upon herself to change his first name, too. From WBIR:
.....
The decision, which mom Jaleesa Martin is appealing, is outrageous on several levels. Aside from the obvious imposition of her own religion (“Messiah” is not a term exclusively reserved for Jesus), the judge’s actions evoke the sick specter of slave owners enforcing name changes on their slaves, while also resting on the dubious legal theory that a proper name that’s also a title must be earned.
But if those grounds for appeal are unsuccessful, there’s also a case to be made that Judge Ballew lacks standing, because
when you’re the Child Support Magistrate for a place called Cocke County, you don’t really have any business telling anyone to change their name:
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