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JudgeDayAndRetributiveJustice 3 - 04 Apr 2012 - Main.MichelleLuo
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| | I was surprised that Eben characterized Judge Day as someone with absolute power and control. I can see how her awareness that she's going to be a cripple one day causes her to split because she is not in control of herself/her body, but I don't think that she has any delusions about her lack of power outside of herself either.
Judge Day seems to be fixated on the idea of power and is particularly aware of the extent of her own power. "The finest lawyer [she's] ever known" told her that "Real power doesn't exist in the courts. He was so right. You have discretion in this job, but you'd be surprised how little. It's taken me an embarrassingly long time to realize that there's a big difference between having a bit of discretion and having real power. It is a very important distinction. A very, very, very important distinction." (90) | | | Her conversation with the narrator about how to reduce the woman's sentence, as you mentioned, highlighted this for me. She claims only to enforce the law, yet she's looking for a method to make it seem as if she's only enforcing the law. Finally, although she attempts to make her conduct seem totally opposed or different from politics, she seems to reach a realization that maybe there is some truth behind political criticism of federal court decisions. She at least wants to help the narrator go over the next draft of the report dealing with it. Well, maybe this is another way for her to hide this splitting by using her power.
Her spine can't hide this splitting though. The stress of attempting to justify a stance in which she does not really have is taking its toll. It seems as if she would be better off, whether a judge or not, if she followed her principles/values and did so openly. People would likely be persuaded by this example, and she would obtain the power/peace she really needs. | |
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> | -- WilliamDavidWilliams - 05 Apr 2012
William David, thank you for clarifying that. That makes sense to me. Judge Day also says that she doesn't have to do politics (play the power game I guess) because she can keep her job as long as she wants. This sounds like a form of power but as you characterized, this is just one of several ways that she hides behind her "powerful position as a federal judge." At the same time, I think that Judge Day is distinctly aware of when she, as a person, separates from her judgeship. As she's sitting on the subway, she thinks, "No one sees me and thinks "federal judge"" (76) and she knows that the girl on the subway "couldn't care less" (76).
I agree with you that Judge Day may be better off psychologically if she stopped pretending (to herself) to be a Formalist judge and openly followed her sense of intuitive justice. I'm suddenly reminded of a discussion we had in Legal Methods about how Formalism (during the Age of Faith) partially arose out of judges' anxiety over "bringing law to slavery". Judges had four choices when it came to upholding the Fugitive Slave Act: 1) resign, 2) refuse to follow the law, 3) find a way out through technicalities, or 4) follow the law mindlessly "with death in your heart." I think that Judge Day thinks that she is in the fourth category - don't ask why, just follow the law . But you're right that in reality, she tries to find ways to bend the sentencing rules to comport with what she thinks is just. She doesn't actually think that the law we have is what we deserve - the "you get what you deserve" justice on the street doesn't fit with the justice in the courtroom, and that creates cognitive dissonance for a self-boxed Formalist judge.
-- MichelleLuo - 05 Apr 2012 |
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