Court Shorts: Fair and Impartial Judiciary

[Music] to be a judge is to be independent and impartial and that is the core element of what it means to be a judge and the system only has credibility if judges have credibility what i think of when you say judicial independence is a judiciary that is free from untoward influences the kind of influences that are not supposed to matter to a fair and impartial judge we don't swear to uphold the principles of a party or the principles of an ideology the principles of a religion anything else there's only one thing it's to defend the constitution of the united states of america and that's all we have to do then i could put on a white jacket and put a stethoscope around my neck and walk down the halls in the hospital i wouldn't be a doctor and the same technique i can put on a black robe and i can sit up on the bench i'm not a judge unless i am independent and i'm considering the merits of the legal arguments and i'm making decisions based on the law and only on the law we take that oath and we raise our right hand we swear to uphold the constitution and i have to say as a judge it's very rare and perhaps almost never occurs that everyone in the courtroom is happy with what you decide we do not favor a party over the other that we are instead trying our very best to get the answer right what you do want as a judge is for folks who at least are being open-minded about it when they leave the courtroom to say i was treated fairly in that case i may have won i may have lost but at least i was treated fairly and that's as a judge what's most important to me judges are serving at the trust of the people who come into the courtroom and if i violate that trust i've failed in my job remember my job is very simple follow the constitution and that means being independent [Music] what's unique about the american constitutional system and its checks and balances is that unlike in foreign countries judges here are appointed for life my determination if it's contrary to one party to the other i don't get fired i don't get removed as a result we are under no political pressure from whatever ruling party may govern to follow that party's wishes we are independent in that we are not beholden to any one group we are not subject to outside pressures to orientation to outcome to politics in particular lots of times i really wish that i could reach out and pick the cases and the issues that i want to decide the ones i think are the most interesting or the ones that are most in need of decision but no we don't get to do that we only resolve those legal issues that are presented to us it is not our role to go outside of the courthouse and drum up business issues come to the court when parties file a lawsuit with a specific set of facts all of the parties have a story they present that story to me it's important that we appreciate that we all have biases and that we try and identify those biases and then we consciously try and make sure that we don't let those biases impact on how we decide cases putting on the road literally is i think to me every time i put it on i'm reminding myself this is i'm trying to take off my partiality and my biases and i'm trying to put on this cloak of impartiality federal judges certainly do not have unlimited power we are subject to the rule of law to the facts that are presented to us to applying the law as made by congress and if congress passes a law that's challenged under the constitution the judiciary has the power to say that law violates the constitution and to strike it down but that's not the end of the story if i get it wrong i have a court of appeals who can tell me you got it wrong and that's not a bad thing that is a terrific thing that is something that we prov we take great comfort in knowing that our courts of appeals will tell us when we get things wrong and will then allow us to make them right and that review process is doesn't stop at the courts of appeals it goes all the way to the united states supreme court if the judiciary holds a law unconstitutional the congress can always modify that law based on the judge's decision that happens all the time every day that you walk out of your house and walk down the street you are exercising your rights under the constitution we are totally independent and that matters to you because think of your first amendment rights you have the right to speak the right to publish the right to worship as you choose the right to assemble with others the right to petition your government our job is to make sure that your rights aren't violated if there is an independent and fair judiciary that is not only for all aspects of the government but even in people in their everyday lives who protects you when the government interferes with those rights that are stated in the first amendment of the constitution the judiciary does waiting in the wings a fair and impartial judge will make sure that your constitutional rights are protected where you have a free and independent judiciary in countries where you have that you see freedom flourish having judges who impartially apply the constitution is what ultimately makes this a democracy and it's what protects every citizen in this country the judiciary as an independent body independent from the other branches of government ought to give you optimism about our system and about our country [Music] you

Channel: United States Courts

Views: 389

Rating: 4.3333335 out of 5

Keywords: Judicial Independence, Article Three Judges, U.S. Constitution, Rule of Law, Federal Judiciary

Id: FNGMgrSP6r8

Length: 7min 7sec (427 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 14 2021