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Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Law - Fellow jurists won't let fear stand in way of justice

"Fellow jurists won't let fear stand in way of justice" is the headline to this story today in the Chicago Tribune. Some quotes:

In the wake of a colleague's unimaginable loss, judges at U.S. District Court in Chicago on Tuesday continued with the day-to-day matters of jurisprudence. One held closing arguments in a case. Others hunkered in their offices writing decisions or attended meetings with attorneys.

But thoughts of the shocking murder Monday of U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow's husband and mother were never far from mind, and the dozens of jurists who walk the courthouse halls were forced to reflect on their potentially dangerous roles settling complex and often acrimonious cases. According to federal sources, about a dozen judges from the courthouse requested additional security Tuesday.

"This comes with the territory. You never know where it is going to come from," one judge said Tuesday. "What I am trying to say is there's no way to be safe, there's no 100 percent in the world."

Since 1979, three federal judges have been murdered in the United States. If Monday's slayings are linked to Lefkow's role as a jurist, it would mark the first time relatives of a federal judge have been murdered, according to Marc Farmer, assistant director of the U.S. Marshals Service's judicial security division in Washington. * * *

"I think there is a commitment to justice and our role in that. But there's probably less focus on that than on the immediate sense of loss and concern," U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer said.

Lefkow "is a person of such grace and dignity," Pallmeyer said. "It's hard to imagine the pain she is suffering."

Echoing the determination of many of the courthouse's district and magistrate judges not to let the Lefkow tragedy deter them, U.S. District Chief Judge Charles Kocoras said in a statement: "Even as we mourn these senseless deaths, we must maintain our resolve to carry out the work of this court in upholding the rule of law in our country,"

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 2, 2005 11:10 AM
Posted to General Law Related