Isolation
in the Judicial Career
Isaiah M. Zimmerman, Washington, D.C.
Excerpts reprinted
by permission of the author and the American Judges’ Association,
Judge Gerald T. Elliott, Former President. Thanks to JFI board member
Barbara George for pointing out the following article appearing in Court
Review, Winter 2000 edited by Judge Steve Leben
.
"Before becoming a judge, I had no idea or warning, of how isolating
it would be." "Except with very close, old friends, you cannot
relax socially." "Judging is the most isolating and lonely
of callings." "The isolation is gradual. Most of your friends
are lawyers, and you can't carry on with them as before." "When
you become a judge, you lose your first name!" "It was the
isolation that I was not prepared for." "After all of these
years on the bench, the isolation is my major disappointment."
"The Chief Judge warned me: 'You're entering a monastery when you
join this circuit.'" "I live and work in a space capsule alone
with stacks of paper." "Your circle of friends certainly becomes
much smaller." "Once you get on the appellate bench, you become
anonymous."
These are the voices of state and federal judges. They are culled from
twenty years of notes taken from my work with the judiciary as
a consultant or as a psychotherapist. They are spontaneous, and
not in response to any leading question regarding isolation.
Joint Effect of Code and Caseload
What
is going on here? Why did approximately 70% of the judges interviewed
come up with this observation on their own? When asked, most cited the
combined effect of a crushing workload plus the restrictions imposed
by the Code of Judicial Conduct. Indeed, the average judge, in my experience,
brings work home on many evenings and weekends and lives with a constant
tension of being behind in his caseload. Time for friends and family,
recreation, and cultural pursuits is severely limited, and is constantly
weighed against the demands of the court.
Some innovate. A federal trial judge told me, "On occasional weekends,
my wife and kids come to my chambers. They play. I work. We get pizza
or Chinese delivered, and time passes better than being separated."
Another couple, both of whom are state trial judges report, "We
work late in the courthouse every week day. But on the weekends, we
see no one…and absolutely bring no legal work home.
As to the effect of the Code, judges report that it is more the "appearance"
requirement that poses the biggest burden. They have to be vigilant
and maintain an appropriate distance and demeanor at social and bar
gatherings. Jokes and offhand remarks can backfire, especially in smaller
communities. The immediate family is also drawn into the ambiguous
image and behavior restrictions. …
Chief justices and presiding judges often exhort their colleagues to
become more involved in their communities in permissible ways. But some
colleagues object. A federal judge expressed it to me this way: "I
would like to contribute more. But, with the little time I have left,
I feel it first should go to my family and then to my own time: to read,
stay fit, and listen to some music." Another judge added, "You
gradually lose your original group of friends, and you have no time
or energy to make new ones. Discretionary time goes down to zero. With
all the ethical restrictions that are obviously necessary, who has time
to go out and break new ground?"