Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Above Reproach.

You may recall that on occasion I have been known to find fault with the judiciary. Which brings me to an article in the N.Y.Times about a Wisconsin Supreme Court judge who has refused to recuse himself from a case where one of the law firms in the case has represented him in the past and he still owes money to them. He has voted with the majority in the case in a 5-4 decision in favor of that law firm's client. Now I suppose it could be just coincidence, but you could ask almost anyone in the country and they'd tell you he is corrupt. Would it help you to learn that he won the election to the court by beating an incumbent by stating that his opponent had arranged for a rapist to be released? The fact is that the rapist served his full sentence. How does the Wisconsin Supreme Court allow this guy to sit on any case involving that law firm? How about the case of two judges in Northeastern Pennsylvania who had an arrangement with a detention center to be paid for every youth sent there and then regularly advised youths they wouldn't need a lawyer. In that case they did go to jail. Does anyone but me see a problem in these two cases? Does anyone think these are lone examples of an otherwise perfect system? Our federal Supreme Court justices are not required to follow any set of rules of ethics. So a justice can sit on cases where his spouse is involved directly, either with the law firm or one of the subjects in the case. Let's look at it this way, if you're in court to make an impartial statement about a company or person and it's later found that you were closely connected to that company or person, how would that affect you and your statement? My guess is that your statement would be thrown out and you would be standing in front of the judge to answer why, right? I don't mean these judges are deceitful or corrupt or anything like that. But maybe, just maybe they are. See, it's all in the perception. And when it comes to people charged with the responsibility of deciding who's right and who's wrong, perception is everything.