"All rise, the honorable..." Law or tradition?

[LagerHead]

Question for the lawyers in house: are you required by law to rise when a judge enters the courtroom? I found an answer that says that this is simply tradition that started because the judge used to carry The Bible into the courtroom and it was this law for which you were rising. Now it seems that it is a tradition that has just continued.

So if I refused to rise when a judge entered, could I legally be put in jail?

If the judge doesn't rise when a cop, firefighter, decorated war veteran, or ER doctor enters the room, I don't think I should have to rise for someone that is after all, supposed to be a servant of the people.

Discuss.

[wipfel]

an attorney i know has told me, on a related question, that you better do what the judge says in his courtroom unless it's against the law.

it's more of a rule of thumb than anything else, but the gist was do what he says or get out. you're definitely not going to win right then and there no matter how wrong he might be.

[Garufa]

I judge is not necessarily a servant of the people, he or she is a servant of the law and often has the final authority on how justice is meted out. Judges represent the law and theoretically, justice.

I have no problem showing the law due respect.

I'm pretty sure a judge can throw anyone present during proceedings in the cooler for contempt. Not showing proper respect can be interpreted as contempt. Your incarceration wouldn't last long but they could still do it. Legal or not.

[vontar]

It is the judges court room and there is nothing to stop him from putting you in jail for contempt of court. Be sides, no reason to piss off the judge no matter which side you are on. You don't want him to find a reason to rule against you just because he can.

Kinda like, You can flip off a COP, it is protected under freedom of speech, but why give them a reason to look for any other reason to nail your ass to the wall?

To answer your question, not a lawyer I will try to look to be fair. I think it is more tradition.

Pretty much everything I am searching comes back as a sign of respect.

Edited October 8, 2010 by vontar

[Pain103]

I don't really see anyone getting locked up for it. I think it's more a show of respect and tradition. I've always understood it came from the old English court system.

[Guest bkelm18]

When you rise, you are not respecting the actual judge, you are respecting the rule of law and justice.

[Garufa]

Said judge being the personification of law and justice.

[LagerHead]

Said judge being the personification of law and justice.

If only that were always the case.

[DaveTN]

I’m not a lawyer.

But I’ve seen people get in pizzing matches with Judges over what they were wearing, talking, how they were going to present their case, etc…. They lose…. Always.

I think a Judge can pretty much do whatever they want unless you happen to have a senior judge in the courthouse to overrule them. (What are the chances of that happening?)

Thrown in Jail for Not Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance

What happens when a stubborn judge and a civil rights lawyer butt heads in the court room? Well, for the lawyer, it means jail time for contempt of court when he refused to stand up and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

A Mississippi judge jailed a lawyer for several hours this week for refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, but the attorney wouldn't back down and says he's still processing the incident and trying to decide what to do next.

On Wednesday, Chancery Judge Talmadge Littlejohn told Oxford lawyer Danny Lampley to "purge himself" of contempt by standing and repeating the oath like others in the courtroom. When Lampley wouldn't budge, the judge put him in the can for 4½ hours, eventually releasing him so he could represent another client, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported.

But although there is a great deal of backlash against the over-reaching judge, it appears that he won't be feeling any repercussions for his stunt.

Constitutional scholars and others are speaking out about Lampley’s First Amendment free-speech rights.

“The judge is lucky he has immunity and can’t be sued,†said George Cochran of Oxford, the iconic constitutional law professor at Ole Miss Law School.

“This man has a constitutional right not be forced to repeat the pledge.â€

First Amendment scholars point to the 1943 U.S. Supreme Court decision in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, a case in which Jehovah’s Witness students refused to salute the flag.

The Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protected students from the salute or the pledge, saying that the state did not have the power to compel speech in that manner for anyone.

While Littlejohn could not be reached for comment Thursday, the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance is believed to have received at least one complaint about Lampley’s treatment.

Bloggers and attorneys also have criticized Littlejohn, a former district attorney who was admitted to the Bar in 1960 and lives in New Albany.

Phillip Thomas, a Jackson attorney who also blogs, termed Littlejohn’s conduct “ignorant and inexcusable.â€

Said Rob McDuff, a well-known civil liberties lawyer in Jackson: “Judge are supposed to enforce the Bill of Rights, not violate it in their own courtrooms,â€

McDuff and First Amendment Center scholar David Hudson Jr. in Nashville said they’d never heard of a similar situation.