Appropos of absolutely nothing that are the usual subjects of this blog is this decision and order, issued yesterday by the California Commission on Judicial Performance.
It's totally off-topic, but a must-read.
It's about what happened when a San Diego Superior Court judge decided to use the courtroom as a venue to audition for a "Judge Judy"-ish television reality show. In deciding to impose public censure, the Commission concluded that among other things, the judge scheduled "her more interesting cases on the day of the filming" (p. 1), remarked to a defendant in a criminal case after placing him on probation "'[w]hat this means is don't come before the court on another case ... 'cause you will definitely be screwed and we don't offer Vaseline for that''' (p. 4), and when an attorney asked for time to confer with his client, asked the audience whether "he need to call the lifeline" (p.6).
Check out pages 5 through 7. Apparently, when one defendant told the judge he was "trying to show that I can do what I am supposed to do," and another said he would "try to do what is right," the judge "had the courtroom audience repeat the slogan "'Do or do not, there is no try.'"
Master Yoda she was not.
