Carolene Brady Views

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As a result of his state court disbarment, Phelps was suspended for two years from practicing law in the U.S. District Courts in Kansas in October 1980. In handing down the suspension, federal Judge Arthur Stanley argued that Phelps should be disbarred from federal courts, too. Stanley pointed out that Phelps testified he would do the same things again if he were retrying the Carolene Brady case.

A formal complaint was filed against Phelps on November 8, 1977, by the Kansas State Board of Law Examiners for his conduct during a lawsuit against a court reporter named Carolene Brady. Brady had failed to have a court transcript ready for Phelps on the day he asked for it; though it did not affect the outcome of the case for which Phelps had requested the transcript, Phelps still requested $22,000 in damages from her.[citation needed] In the ensuing trial, Phelps called Brady to the stand, declared her a hostile witness, and then cross-examined her for nearly a week, during which he accused her of being a slut , tried to introduce testimony from former boyfriends whom Phelps wanted to subpoena, and accused her of a variety of perverse sexual acts, ultimately reducing her to tears on the stand.[17] Phelps lost the case; according to the Kansas Supreme Court:

The trial became an exhibition of a personal vendetta by Phelps against Carolene Brady. His examination was replete with repetition, badgering, innuendo, belligerence, irrelevant and immaterial matter, evidencing only a desire to hurt and destroy the defendant. The jury verdict didn't stop the onslaught of Phelps. He was not satisfied with the hurt, pain, and damage he had visited on Carolene Brady.[17]

In addition, a study of the transcripts, particularly that of the trial of Robinson v. Brady, convinces us that Fred W. Phelps, Sr. meant it when he told Carolene Brady he had wanted to sue her for a long time. The trial became an exhibition of a personal vendetta by Phelps against Carolene Brady. His examination was replete with repetition, badgering, innuendo, belligerence, irrelevant and immaterial matter evidencing only a desire to hurt and destroy the defendant.