Maria Lopez thinks public scrutiny will have a chilling effect on judges. She thinks that it will scare judges from making unpopular decisions.

First of all, judges have tenure in this state. They get paid to make unpopular decisions from time to time. The public actually understands that, hence tenure rather then elections. But they don’t get paid to make unreasonable decisions. And they are not immune to public scrutiny when they do so consistently.

The bottom line is this. If criminal judges see themselves as legal high priests, above politics and society, then they should operate that way, within a strictly legal context, merely applying the law.

Of course, that would entail putting lots more people in jail, no matter what extenuating circumstances exist in the life of the defendant, or how much room the jails have. Consider the guy arrested for a firearm offense this year in Boston with 122 prior convictions, an impossibility if the law was applied as written.

But if Lopez and other judges want the freedom to do thier work in a societal context (as almost all judges do) then public scrutiny is simply a part of the package and they better get used to it.

And judges who want respect should refrain from whinning.

(That's the last rant of the year. Happy New Year!)

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This year's photos are up.

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From Guardroom: A woman caught in the crossfire between police and a drug gang in Brazil was shot in the chest but was spared serious injury when the bullet was stopped by her breast implants.

A doctor who treated her said the silicone saved her life. As an added bonus, the plastic surgeon called in to repair the damage took the opportunity to increase the size of the woman’s breasts.

She said: "I'm twice happy, first because my prosthesis saved my life and also because now I look even more beautiful."

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Clash singer songwriter Joe Strummer died yesterday, his website announced. He was 50.

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Retired judge Dominick Russo testified that he thought a prosecutor’s threat to call the press on a bail decision was “inappropriate” and “insolent.”

This says more about the judge than the prosecutor.

Unless his decision was unsound, why exactly would a judge be afraid of legal or public scrutiny?

Posted by jjdaley at 5:22 PM | Permalink

A great article today in the Times looks at what happens to political labels (and parties) when conservatives promotes a liberal society more enthusiastically and effectivly than liberals do. Has liberalism become more defined by rivalry then reason?

It also includes a great quote from Edmund Burke: "Politics ought to be adjusted, not to human reasonings, but to human nature, of which reason is but a part, and by no means the greatest part."

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Unfortunatly, the NY Times ran a story on the web site that gives a video drive through of the new big dig roads in Boston. So the server is clogged and I can't get a look. But when the smoke clears, here's the link.

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Ken Layne has a interesting look at how one part of the UFO crowd is arguing with another part of the UFO crowd about whether we should blast the first alien we see, or offer an open embrace to our new odd looking friends.

As for me, I think Tim Burton's Mars Attacks is the last word in realistic planning for alien encounters.

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Even though this is a joke, this, unfortunatly isn't.

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