Virginia Judge Wonât Try Black Man in Courtroom Lined With White Portraits David Bernhard, a circuit court judge, wrote in his decision that the display of portraits of white judges âis based on a non-racial principle, yet yields a racial result.â Portraits of judges hanging in a courtroom of the Fairfax Circuit Court in 2015.Credit...Pool by Jahi Chikwendiu Published Jan. 1, 2021Updated Jan. 2, 2021 When a Black man appears in a Virginia courtroom this month to stand trial on charges of eluding the police, assaulting an officer and other crimes, he will face a scene that defendants in that room have not experienced in decades: The portraits of white judges will no longer line the walls.