I write to disagree strongly with Michael Cardozo’s Dec. 7 Perspective, “10 Suggestions for Court Reform,” (page 6), although I respect the excellent motivation which produced the suggestions. In essence, Mr. Cardozo proposes to reform the court system by energizing a strong handed bureaucracy to monitor the centerpiece of the court system, the judges.
As a practicing lawyer for many years, and one who has had some personal experience with the court system, I find the idea not only distasteful but wrong side up. What we require are dedicated, hard working, extremely intelligent judges, themselves first class lawyers, dedicated to the proper development of the law and even-handed justice. Where the judge sits in a specialized court, he or she should be a specialist in that area. The absence of these traits cannot be cured by oversight; indeed to suggest the need for oversight is to admit profound failure in the selection of judges.
