Your article about 'bullying judges'

• Author: Paul G. Rees
• Pages: 6-6

BEHAVIOR UNBECOMING

Wendy Davis’ article

“Bullying from the Bench,”

March, page 46, is well-doc u-

mented and well-written on a subjec t

that should concern us all. W hat she

does not discuss is the th in line that

exists betw een a judge who requires

attorneys appear ing before him or

her to toe the line in the name of e -

ciency and a well-run docket a nd

the judge who abuses the process in

the name of e ciency. Those attor-

neys who abuse the process by pur-

suing interminable delays w ill be the

fi rst to complain about a judge who

requires them to toe t he line. That is

not abusive in my book.

Alan B. Schaef er

Dayton, Ohio

Your article about “bullyi ng

judges” emphasized those judges

who lost control at some moment or

did specifi c anti-judicial things. But

there were also judges before whom

I tried cases who ha d

a more insidious form

of lawyer-bashing. One

such judge refused to let the com-

peting lawyers add ress the jury on

voir dire and did it all hi mself. His

fi rst comments to the jury were to

the e ect that jurors got tired of the

lawyers always ta lking, and he’d do

the questioning “to protect ” the jury

from that abuse. Then he’d make

scurrilous ant i-lawyer comments

before continuing, even once using

the apparent “sl ip-of-the-tongue”

comment speaking about the “ liars-I-

mean-lawyers.” This hurt bot h sides

of the case with t he jury, but particu-

larly the plainti ’s side. He was never

stopped or censured before ret ire-

ment, to my knowledge. Your article

was both thoughtfu l and well-taken.

Paul G. Rees

Tucson, Arizona

CLARIFICATION

“Census Fraca s,” April, page 20,

should have clarifi ed that California

faces a “certai nly impending” risk of

losing a seat in the U.S. House while

fi ve other states face a “substantial”

risk of losing a seat.

CORRECTION

“Reckless Request s,” March 2018,

should have said that a Washington

legislature study g roup decided to

charge 1.25 cents for electron ic cop-

ies, so a requester who asked for

10,000 fi les would pay $125.

The Jour nal regr ets the error.

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