The Necessary Humanity of Judges
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States has never been pulled over while driving. He has never been stopped by the police. He has never spent time with his hands, clearly visible on the wheel, as a random stranger with a gun grilled him about his speed or whether he came to a complete stop.
Yet in Rodriguez v. United States, Justice Roberts is helping define what is normal for a person to endure in a traffic stop. It is a decision that will impact thousands of people in the next few years, and Justice Robert’s best understanding of it comes from movies and television.
We want judges to rule on difficult matters of law with dispassion and impartiality. But we should also hope that judges to keep in mind the human cost of their decisions. This week is filled with hearings that will be matters of life and death for some, political victories for others, and preserve or tear apart families in some. As the justices of the Supreme Court weigh
The current battle over jurisdiction between the Alabama state courts and Federal Court rulings highlights how impactful these decisions can be. While wrangling happens over comity between the two levels of court, state and federal, thousands of couples wait in limbo for a final ruling that affects every aspect of the home and personal lives. The personality and experience of the judges involved matters to people outside of the courtroom, more than we would like to admit.
David Lat gave readers a behind the scenes look at how judicial personalities affect courts in his book, Supreme Ambitions. The protagonist is a clerk that must wrestle the personality of the judges she with whom she works, just as much as the briefs burying her desk. Each judge in the novel had a different philosophy that drove much of their legal reasoning. This behind-the-curtain view on the workings of court was a great read, both educating me and reminding me of the strengths and difficulties that come from presiding over a courtroom.
The impact of judges’ decisions happen on the great and small aspects of our lives, and it is my hope that they realize and internalize those impacts.
(If you want to learn more about how courts operate, feel free to join the upcoming Clio webinar I’m hosting on courtroom etiquette. David Lat of Above the Law and Judge Stephen Louis A. Dillard, the 73rd judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia will be answering questions on tradition, process, and interactions between courts and the lawyers appearing there. You can sign up for it here: http://landing.goclio.com/courtroom-etiquette-for-lawyers-registration.html.)
