Judge Judith Sheindlin during a taping of “Judge Judy” in 1999 Tribune Content Agency
“If you expect nothing from people, you will get nothing,” Judge Judith Sheindlin stated in a 2009 interview with Stephen J. Abramson.
Judge Sheindlin, famously known as Judge Judy, has become a worldwide sensation over the past few decades due to her massively successful court reality show “Judge Judy,” and subsequently its spinoff, “Judy Justice.”
With her no-nonsense attitude and sharp tongue, it is fair to say that Sheindlin has acquired a reputation of being quite the cut-throat, cut-to-the-chase judge one wouldn’t want to be caught in the midst of an illegal act by. This has caused her to receive many critiques regarding her character and the way she conducts her work over the years.
“Judy is a classic narcissist, and appears and acts unhinged throughout each episode,” an IMDb user writes in review of her show.
I’ve even met individuals who share in this same sour distaste of the esteemed judge and TV personality.
There are a fair number of people who view Sheindlin as an overly cruel and belittling person who lacks empathy, especially to the parties involved in her cases.
One critique often seen relating to Sheindlin is the fact that she is frequently seen interrupting people while they are speaking to her in the courtroom.
In the cases I have seen, she only interrupts when someone has been repeating himself or herself or has brought up evidence that either cannot be used or is irrelevant to the case.
A classic example of this occurrence happens often on the show, when a party involved in a case brings up something somebody verbally said in an instance relating to the case.
Federal Rule 802 prevents hearsay, or rumor, to be used as legal evidence in a case.
Let’s put this into perspective: say a man is suing a woman for fraud, and he is accusing her of not providing him with a TV she promised to sell him, and the man already paid. Let’s say that the man and the woman made this agreement in person. If there is no evidence of this agreement, such as in a recorded conversation or in writing, how is the judge supposed to know that the man is telling the truth, and therefore, make a just decision?
Another common critique against Sheindlin is her intimidating demeanor in the courtroom. She is known to raise her voice and ruthlessly presses the parties before her for answers. This is where many see the judge as lacking empathy or behaving in a rude or disrespectful manner.
What those who critique her for this fail to realize is that this is most likely not how the TV judge acts in real life. What we see on TV is how Sheindlin conducts herself when she is doing her job, not when she’s at home with her family or out to dinner with a group of friends.
If Sheindlin were to be soft spoken and timid while hearing cases, it is likely that she would be at risk of not only being lied to, but also disrespected.
In order to ensure that a party tells the full story of a matter in a legal setting, there must be some degree of fear in the person to ensure that the judge can get an honest, truthful answer, that a rational decision can be made from.
Quite frankly, Sheindlin doesn’t typically raise her voice or become short unless an individual is disrespectful or uncooperative.
It’s possible that some of those who project such critiques onto Judy Sheindlin are simply threatened by a successful, strong-willed woman who will stop at nothing to ensure that justice is served.
Why should she have to be soft spoken and gentle to people who would likely disrespect or lie to her the minute she allowed them to?
Her job is not to be a friend to the individuals that stand before her; she is there to hear the details of a case and decide the outcome from there.
It would be unfair to call her cruel or arrogant when the character of men such as Donald Trump is praised as free-thinking and rebellious against the status quo, when Trump has proven on many occasions to be self-important and condescending (have we forgotten about the “grab her by the p***y” joke?).
Sheindlin’s lack of tolerance for disrespect and disorder in her courtroom is a testament to her undying passion for law and order, and it does not make her disrespectful or narcissistic.
”I’m a law and order girl,” Sheindlin asserts in her interview with Abramson. “I believe that in society, there’s right behavior, and there’s wrong behavior.”