Word: benching
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Last year TIME cited the Chief Justice's grim prediction in a cover story about "Those #@!!! Lawyers." The cover this week examines the second object of Burger's concern, His Honor's increasingly powerful colleagues on the bench. To assess the rapid expansion of judicial authority in the U.S. and the delays, anachronisms and inefficiencies that plague the nation's courts, TIME correspondents interviewed dozens of lawyers and judges across the country, including the studiously reclusive Chief Justice himself. Reports Washington Correspondent Doug Brew: "Chatting with Burger in a quiet corner of his office while...
...even talk to the press; thanks to last month's Supreme Court decision in Gannett vs. DePasquale, they are now closing off their courtrooms. Already, at least 39 judges have banned press or public or both from pretrial hearings or trials.* Lawyers, out of necessity, bow before the bench. "The job corrupts people," says Jack Frankel, executive officer of the California Commission on Judicial Performance. "The judge says, 'I'm going on vacation.' Everyone says, 'Fine, Judge.' The judge says, 'I'm coming in late.' Again, it's 'Fine, Judge.' Pretty soon it changes them...
...bench is obviously the worst possible place to encounter that kind of prejudice. Nothing is so damaging to the stature of the judiciary as the common perception that punishment depends less on what a criminal did than on the biases or whims of the judge...
Swaying back and forth on the piano bench, Leon unconsciously accompanies the rhythm of his speech with the rhythm of his body. He flips his tap shoe lightly over and tightens a screw in the metal heel with a flick of a screwdriver...
...trial. The argument against is that jurors will be distracted, that witnesses will be intimidated, and that lawyers and judges, particularly elected judges, will grand stand. In short, that defendants will be deprived of their right to a fair trial. Foes of televised trials, who include many on the bench and in the bar, also fear that cameras will invade the privacy of defendants and witnesses, especially in rape cases or seamy divorces...