Despite the killing of an Atlanta judge and a federal judge’s family in Chicago, judges should not shut down their courtrooms or withdraw further from the public, says USA Today columnist and court reporter Tony Mauro. “Judges should become smarter about security, but not obsessed with it,” says Mauro. “They should be wary but still welcoming.”
Mauro notes that media coverage of high-profile trials “treats the judge as just another actor who can be critiqued, sometimes savagely.” Mauro concludes that “animosity toward judges is probably here to stay, and judges have to adapt. In many countries, judges are routinely guarded round-the-clock.” He observers that after Supreme Court Justice David Souter was mugged last year, law enforcement officials said that judges rebuff many suggestions for more security, preferring to rely on their anonymity. “That won’t work anymore,” Mauro said.
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20050316/opcom16.art.htm