{"id":348660,"date":"2026-09-16T21:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T21:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/348660\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T21:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T21:10:09","slug":"on-eve-of-constitution-day-federal-judges-in-new-york-stress-need-for-clear-apolitical-judicial-opinions-so-all-understand-their-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/348660\/","title":{"rendered":"On eve of Constitution Day, federal judges in New York stress need for clear, apolitical judicial opinions so all understand their decisions"},"content":{"rendered":"

While American society at large is experiencing a crisis of lacking civic engagement, the court system is experiencing a concerning decline in trust, federal judges told an audience of New York City\u2019s legal community Wednesday. <\/p>\n

To combat it, they believe the judiciary needs to keep politics out of their decisions and ensure what they write is clear and contains thorough reasoning so it is not misunderstood by members of the press and public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone who just has a cellphone and can come and do a report about a decision that you have made, and that gets spread much more rapidly and further than your actual decision,\u201d said 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker<\/a>, who participated in a conversation with a pair of federal judges during a Sept. 16 event at New York Law School<\/a> on the eve of Constitution Day, Sept. 17. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that judges and lawyers need to understand that times have changed, and the idea of being smart and right is not enough. To get your information out there requires a little more outreach or a little more explanation, so that the truth of your decisions reaches the public,\u201d Whitaker added.<\/p>\n

Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Joseph Bianco and U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero told a group of lawyers and judges gathered for the law school\u2019s second annual Constitution and Citizenship Day Summit that the judiciary\u2019s role in supporting civic engagement is to communicate clearly and without fanfare through their decisions to instill public confidence that they\u2019re truly an independent institution the public can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the standpoint of the courts, independence and a commitment to the rule of law through that independence is critical,\u201d Bianco said. \u201cIt\u2019s a cornerstone of the judicial system. If a judge is deciding cases based upon his or her personal beliefs, based upon public opinion, based upon the president who appointed him or her, that\u2019s poison to the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero speaks at New York Law School.Photo by Isabella Gallo<\/p>\n

He and Marrero emphasized that judges need to realize that, for all the control they have over their courtroom, they don\u2019t have much control over how the inside of their courtroom gets portrayed to the public via the press.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no control over it. We don\u2019t have PR people,\u201d Bianco said with a laugh. \u201cSo, what is a judge to do to make sure that what\u2019s going on in the courtroom is being accurately told to the public? We speak through our judicial opinions and our rulings. I think judges need to show their work. If a judge gives someone a [prison] sentence and there\u2019s only one line of reasoning, the public doesn\u2019t understand what happened and why it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Marrero, Bianco, Whitaker and New York Law School Dean Anthony Crowell speak at New York Law School\u2019s Constitution and Citizenship Impact Day Summit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it be orally or in writing, we need to explain our decision, hopefully consistent in the way you\u2019re approaching the law, regardless of who the parties are,\u201d Bianco continued. \u201cAnother important part of that is the way you write it. When I read a judicial opinion, and it almost reads like a press release, with punchy lines in it, I worry that the public will not read it as an objective assessment of the law, but as an opinion piece, so that\u2019s really troubling.\u201d<\/p>\n

That might not be the judge\u2019s intention or even the reality of what the decision is, Bianco said, but what matters just as much is the appearance. If the public perceives a ruling as sounding political, it contributes to deteriorating their trust in the judiciary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When he works with his colleagues to craft decisions on the appellate bench, Bianco said he helps ensure the words being used reflect the independence of the ruling, sometimes telling colleagues to \u201ctone down\u201d certain lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to show the appearance of being above the political fray,\u201d Bianco said. \u201cJust follow the law and make sure that your decision-making reflects that.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While American society at large is experiencing a crisis of lacking civic engagement, the court system is experiencing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[39664,2710,9,11,10,12889],"class_list":["post-348660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-federal-judges","tag-law","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-law-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}