Sheindlin and Scalia are cut out of the same judicial cloth. To prove my point, let's take a quiz. Who made the following statements, Scalia or Sheindlin?
• "Everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, but that doesn't mean the law has to treat everyone equally."
• "'The operation was a success, but the patient died.' What such a procedure is to medicine, the Court's opinion in this case is to law."
Sheindlin made the first statement and Scalia the second. Okay, two more.
• "Pure applesauce."
• "I'm the boss, Applesauce."
The first is from Scalia and the second Sheindlin. You have to admit that there is a similar judicial temperament.
I can make my best case for a Justice Judy Sheindlin in four words: "cameras in the courtroom." Seventy-four percent of Americans want cameras in the Supreme Court according to a recent survey by pollsters McLaughlin & Associates. It's a slam dunk that Judge Judy would be in favor of cameras. After all, she won an Emmy Award and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame thanks to her 20 years in front of a camera.
Even if President Obama could be convinced to nominate Sheindlin, there is one more hurdle. We would have to convince her to take a pay cut.
An associate justice makes $213,000 per year. Judge Judy, on the other hand, makes $47 million per year. She tapes her show 52 days a year at the Sunset Bronson Studios in Los Angeles, California. That's over $900,000 per day. During the less than 20 weeks per year that she works, Judge Judy takes her private jet from her New York home to tape the show on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. She recently signed a contract extension with CBS through 2020. Let's hope the agreement has a Supreme Court nomination "out clause." Or even better, CBS could rebrand the show and call it "Justice Judy."
Wouldn't it be great? Justice Sheindlin's first opinion could be an overturning of a statute endorsed by President Trump. I can hear it now …
You're fired, Applesauce.
This post originally appeared on abovethelaw.com.
Jon Pfeiffer is an experienced entertainment and copyright trial attorney practicing in Santa Monica. Jon is also an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California where he teaches Media Law. The class covers First Amendment issues as well as copyright, defamation and privacy.
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