Some Sitting Jurists And Law Professor Reveal Their Favorites
The August 2017 edition of the ABA Journal has an article, “Honoring Our Favorite Your Honors,” where several sitting jurists and one law professor list their favorite judges from the movies or television. Here they are:
- Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals):
Judge Chamberlain Haller – portrayed by Fred Gwynne – My Cousin Vinny
- Circuit Judge Bernice B. Donald (Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals):
Judge Philip Banks (“Uncle Phil”) – portrayed by James Avery – The Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air and
Judge Elizabeth Donnelly – portrayed by Judith Light – Law & Order: Special
Victims Unit
- Judge Arthur L. Hunter, Jr., Orleans Parish Criminal District Court (New Orleans):
Judge H. Lee Sarokin – portrayed by Rod Steiger – The Hurricane (movie based
on the story of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter)
- Chief Judge Laurie A. White, Orleans Parish Criminal District Court (New Orleans):
Judge Francis Rayford – portrayed by Jack Warden – And Justice For All and
Judge Henry T. Fleming – portrayed by John Forsythe – And Justice For All
- Christine A. Corcos, Associate Professor of Law, Louisiana State University:
Judge Dan Haywood – portrayed by Spencer Tracy – Judgment at Nuremberg
and Judge Ernst Janning – portrayed by Burt Lancaster – Judgment at Nuremberg
as well as Judge Henry X. Harper – portrayed by Gene Lockhart – Miracle on
34th Street.
COMMENT: To this list, we would add:
- Judge Weaver, portrayed by attorney Joseph N. Welch in Anatomy of a Murder, famous for his role in the Army-McCarthy hearings ("At long last, have you left no sense of decency?").
Joseph N. Welch
- Judge Roger ("the Mad Bull") Bullingham, portrayed by Bill Fraser in Rumpole of the Old Bailey.