Judges’ Political Biases
Writing…
Judges’ Decisions

Bias… Our Flawed Humanity

God bless the American protesters who recently exercised their 1st. Amendment rights to expose the “judicial biases” of the U.S. Supreme Court’s, right-wing Catholic, Super Majority (Chief Justice, John Roberts Jr. and Associate Justices… Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett). “Here, Here… all rise and those who have business before this Honorable Court draw near and ye shall be heard.” “Err ??? Your Honors, Fred Lauck for the record. Can we add on, ‘shall be heard by an impartial, unbiased, Supreme Court panel’” ??? “Sit down, Mr. Lauck and fall silent, lest ye be held in contempt and sentenced to ‘excommunication’ from Catholicism for 99 years… after which… good luck with the Last Judgment by Michelangelo.”

After 19 years of education, at Catholic institutions, I spent 43 years in American Courtrooms as the Trial Lawyer… the “voice” for those physically, mentally and emotionally wounded by the indiscriminate power of Corporate America, Government, Cops and the American Insurance Industry. Forty three years starring down Trial Judges who have the raw power to do as they want… although with a lot less influence and much less power than their U.S. Supreme Court counterparts. Therefore, let it be understood (of which I have no doubt)… that our American Judges (in interpreting the meaning of our U.S. Constitution and our American laws) are much moved by their own, preconceived notions aka confirmation biases— preconceived notions and biases that (knowingly and/or subconsciously) drive Judges to embrace an end result that is (by and large) consistent with their own view of life (and consistent with their own preconceived notions and biases). Or, as the great, German, writer-philosopher, Goethe, might say… “Judges ultimately find the result they were looking for all along.” If this condemnation be overly broad in the eyes of some… nonetheless (as “most in the know” must know) there is much more truth in that condemnation than not.

As audacious as my condemnation of the role of preconceived notions and biases in the judicial work of our American Judges sounds (as it does), Judges are (in the last analysis) “human”… suffering from the same “judgmental” weaknesses and infirmities that the rest of us humans suffer. I stand by that critique of the “humanity” of our Judges despite (perhaps) the initial objections of the Judges and the legal profession itself. I love the profession of Law. I love the American Judicial system. I have many, honorable friends who are (or were) Judges. I’m not going out of my way to challenge or insult Judges or the legal profession. I am not promoting an exposé… trying to show that I am smarter than everyone else. I am not (smarter than anyone else). And, I am not challenging the integrity of anyone (… yet).

I am challenging the “conventional legal wisdom” that says “Judges are (by and large) fair and unbiased.” By and large, they are not (whether they recognize it or not). Our Judges are human. They are, therefore, subject to the same rules of human nature that all the rest of us flawed human beings are. So, I challenge conventional wisdom and I say what needs to be said (long overdue and under acknowledged). I repeat… even the best of us (Judges and lawyers alike and the rest of us) are knowingly (or, more likely, “subconsciously”) locked into our own preconceived notions of how life is and how life should be… as we learned those preconceived notions and biases from our “youthful environment and upbringing.” That’s the “key” !!! The operative notion… environment and upbringing.

No doubt, “early life experiences and upbringing” aka “environment” play dominant (even oversized) roles in our “belief” system. So much so… that I have often asked, “Is there life after birth” ??? Or, are we just clones of our environment and upbringing ??? And, I have often told first-week, Law School students to erase everything they were taught by their parents, aunts, uncles, religious authorities, teachers and self help books and start anew on the first day of Law School with a completely open mind and rebuild their world from the ground up. As I tell the entering law students. “After three years of Law School you may (or not ???) end up right back where you began, but, if you don’t erase the slate of (knee jerk) beliefs from your early life as you start Law School and begin anew… you will never (repeat “never”) be your own man or your own women.

As the great Trial Lawyer, Clarence Darrow once told a 1925, Detroit Jury of all white men in the murder trial of his black client, Doctor Ossian Sweet… we (Humanity) are all biased by our own preconceived notions and prejudices (aka prejudgment). And the only question that remains is… whether (our flawed humanity) allows us to, at least, (1) recognize our own particular, preconceived notions and biases and then (2) set them aside when we sit in judgment of our fellow man (and fellow woman) ??? A tall order for anyone, I suggest.

 

Trial by Jury

After but a few years in the practice of law, I began to see what was really going on in the American system of Justice for All. I, therefore, sought out a Trial by Jury… 99.9% of the time. Why ???

• Because multiple and divergent biases of Jurors (canceling out one another) usually works much better than throwing your client’s case to the preconceived notions and biases of but a single Judge.

and

• Because a Judge (deciding a without a Jury) has usually been around the block more than a few times… thus allowing the Judge’s preconceived notions and biases to “ferment” over time become more and more steeped, entrenched and hardwired than the preconceived notions and biases of Jurors (usually)

Different Biases of Left and Right

Now, to the point.

Present, U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice, John Roberts, has been around. He “generally” knows (consciously or subconsciously) the result he wants as he proceeds into a case… after which he then writes an opinion (eruditely fluffed up with “legalese”) trying to convince the rest of us that what he has written (his legal opinion) was “driven by law.” Justice Roberts would lead us to believe that he was “constrained” to so write (his legal opinion) and that his opinion is above reproach because (as Justice Roberts tells us), he is “just an umpire” calling the balls and strikes.

My considered response… based on 43 years a Trial Lawyer ???

• That “Just an Umpire” diversion of U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice, John Roberts Jr, is (at best) an overly simplified, sophomoric, red herring,
• A red herring (that lacks subtlety and nuance) thereby throwing all seekers of Justice off the “scent” of Justice for All.
• Or, worse yet ??? … Justice Roberts may just be throwing off-speed knuckleball, curves of obfuscation and chicanery to cover the tracks of his right-wing, Roman Catholic philosophy.
• See Just an Umpire

And for those who say, “Well, the Obama appointees do the same thing,” I say… “Yes and No” … same, human process, flawed with preconceived notions and bias, but “different” biases between the right-wing Justices and the left-wing Justices.

Justice Roberts and his right-wing, Catholic, Super Majority use their preexisting notions and biases to wipe out human rights with the stroke of a pen… as those Justices rely on their particular, right-wing, Roman Catholic bias of “Controlling of the Masses” of Rome, America and the World… something Justice Roberts and his other, right-wing Catholic Justices learned as part of their “environment” and youthful “indoctrination” into right-wing, Roman Catholicism.

An example ??? Justice Roberts and his right-wing Catholic Justices (unbelievably) allowed the right-wing Catholic, Little Sisters of the Poor to “veto” an Act of Congress (Obama Care)… thereby authorizing the Little Sisters to trump Obama Care and take away what all other, eligible, female employees in America have under Obama Care i.e. insurance coverage for Birth Control prescriptions (at absolutely no cost to the Little Sisters). Why did the U.S. Supreme Court, right-wing Catholic, Super Majority allow the Little Sisters of the Poor to veto an act of Congress and take away Federal, statutory rights of (the Little Sister’s) women employees ??? Because … as the indoctrinated, controlling and biased, right wing Catholic, super majority, Supreme Court Justices tell us in their written opinion… the Little Sisters “believe” (without any proof) that “Birth Control is a Sin” (all the while, the Little Sisters’ leader, Jesus, never said any such thing about birth control). For this and other examples, see Strong Arming America’s Life, Liberty & Pursuit of Happiness and Separation of Church and State Relentless Assaults by… Mind Readers and True Believers

Oh, I hear your protest that, occasionally, one or two of the right-wing, Roman Catholic conservatives join the vote of the liberals on the Supreme Court, e.g. the throwing out of the Trump Tariffs as unconstitutional (an easy and absolute correct call). My further response, (1) Even a broken clock tells the “time” correctly two times a day and (2) you can’t control “revolution of the masses”… if someone doesn’t attend to “affordability” of the lower and middle classes in these, highly inflationary times (which the Trump Tariffs definitely contribute to).

On the other hand, the left-wing, liberal Catholics are not “indoctrinated” toward “controlling the masses.” Their, left-wing philosophy of the American Dream is biased toward the Golden Rule Jesus figure that protects human dignity by checking the power of the State (America, Rome, Judea or otherwise) by defining, maintaining and protecting the Constitutional, Human Rights of Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness (through the “non-establishment” of religion clause of the 1st. Amendment).

Bottom Line

The bottom line ??? The philosophical difference between our right-wing, conservative Judges and our left-wing, liberal Judges is one of… “controlling” human rights (by our right-wing, biased Judges) versus “recognizing and protecting” of Constitutional, human rights (by our left-wing, biased Judges).

That bears repeating and expanding.

• Right-wing, Roman Catholic Justices… “indoctrinated” as they are into the right-wing philosophy of the Roman Empire’s (now Roman Catholic) “control of the masses”… recently and ridiculously told us the American Constitution was frozen in time, the moment it was written 250 years ago… aka interpretation of the Constitution via “Originalism.” (Thank you Justice Scalia, the deceased “Darling of the Right” for such, relatively-recent, unadulterated nonsense).

versus

• Left-wing, liberal Justices, “indoctrinated” into the left-wing, Golden Rule philosophy of God-given, Free Will and “self evident” human rights of Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness (as those concepts are incorporated) into our human, “ever vibrant” and “living” American Constitution… that was written by the Founders to keep up with the inevitable… “Times, they are a changin’” (Bob Dylan).

I close by saying unto all of you left-wing, liberal Judges struggling to do the right thing, “Hold your head up high, keep up the Good Fight and go out into your world and serve the human rights of humanity.”

I now take my leave, your Honors, assured as I am, that the Hero of Christianity, the “historical” Jesus (the man in sandals who walked from Nazareth to Jerusalem) was no right-winger when it came to the Golden Rule, human dignity, human rights and the human dynamics of Love, Forgiveness, Empowerment and the Freedom from stoning and Freedom from the corruptive influence of the High Priests and Money Changers.

I doubt the historical, Golden Rule Jesus would ever present me as a Defendant to the Spanish Inquisition, just to protect Christian theocracy, nor would he demand my burning at the stake like 19 year-old Joan of Arc, nor would he condemned and murder the so-called witches in Salem Massachusetts and across Europe, nor encourage the lot of us (as the Irish say) to fight the battles of the past and the present Crusades. Neither would, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Muhammed Ali, Rosa Parks, Father Solanus Casey of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit, Father Clement Kern of Holy Trinity in Detroit’s Corktown, the Jesuits of my University of Detroit undergrad and Law School (now Detroit Mercy), nor the Basilians of my Detroit Catholic Central High School, nor the Dominican Nuns, nor Father Livius Paoli…of my St. Scholastica grade school in northwest Detroit. May Peace be with them and all of you.

I take my leave with “appreciation” and “admonition”…

Appreciation for being shown the historical path of the Man in Sandals (and others I mention above) … though I still fall short in living the Golden Rule, again and again, in the daily effort to “do unto others,” love them, empower them and forgive them in this bellicose, World War II world that I was born into. See Love One Another

Admonition. Let us on the left pray not to be pharisaical or self righteous and gloat about elusive virtue of moral judgment. Ours must be… to fully engage the battle of human rights with resoluteness and steadfastly walk toward the Light of Enlightenment and shun the monolithic, one way for all… wherever that takes us). See What is Christianity? A Message of Compassion or A Structure of Roman Power and MAGA Evolving Backwards and Education to Enlightenment and Wisdom

Fred Lauck
also known as…

Downtown Freddie from Detroit
Son of Uptown Freddie from Detroit
Father of Out-of-Town Freddie from Detroit, and
Brother of Michigan Marty, the Legend of Detroit

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