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Our friends at the DBR note that the revived Catholic Lawyers Guild is set to honor Magistrate Judge Palermo after the annual Red Mass on Thursday:

The reactivated Miami Catholic Lawyers Guild will recognize U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter R. Palermo on Thursday with the Lex Christi Lex Amoris award.

Palermo, 90, was part of the first group of federal magistrates sworn in almost 40 years ago and is still in active service. He has served in Miami since 1971. He was a state prosecutor in the early 1950s and was a senior partner with Palermo & Connelly from 1953 to 1960. He has presided over the two largest citizenship ceremonies nationally, swearing in 10,000 citizens in 1984 and 14,200 citizens in 1986 to add to his total of about 600,000.

Palermo is set to receive the award at a reception hosted by fellow judges following the annual Red Mass.

The guild was revived after being dormant for more than 10 years.

Those alert ankle-biters over at Riptide, however, see something church/statey about the whole thing:

Trueba explains that religion will be limited to the service. Yeah, the group's name, "Catholic Lawyer's Guild," is on the invitation, and there's a possibility Favalora will attend the luncheon, which will also honor a magistrate, but, "There is no violation of the establishment clause of the Fisrt Amendment," he explains. "Right now there is nothing on the agenda that calls for a prayer or a religious ceremony at the courthouse."

Whether or not Trueba is right, I don't like the idea. How might holding an event like this at the courthouse make defendants in religious discrimination cases feel.

It's bad judgment on the part of judges, who don't answer to the public but should know better. I hope they reconsider -- and maybe have the luncheon at a restaurant.

Maybe because I love Judge P so much, I'm not sure I find this all that objectionable. I guess Chuck is right that a different location than the courthouse might be a more appropriate location, yet anyone who knows Judge Palermo knows that his religion is as fused to his being as his judicial identity.

What say you?