Day in Court

Monday I was able to spent my morning in the DC Superior Court room 113-a courtroom used for family law, particularly Civil Protection Orders. I arrived around 9:30 and the judge didn't enter the courtroom until well after 10:00. The room had probably 50 seats in it, and almost all of them were filled. And a collection of maybe 10 lawyers sat in the jury box and a cranky woman sat next to the judge printing out papers and trying to organize the circus of events that was to come. I think I was thinking the seats around me were filled with spectators or supporters like me, but no-these were people who were there to see the judge. By the time I left around 1:00 I had seen around 20 cases. Many of them were quick: asking the judge for extension of a CPO, mutual agreement of a CPO, requesting a CPO, etc. Many of the people were representing themselves and I wasn't sure what to think when people who had been sitting near me went up and were told the logistics of their new restraining orders--then came to sit next to me again while they waited for their paper work!

The most interesting thing I saw was an actual hearing where two women came forward and gave their own oral arguments about why they though a CPO was necessary or unnecessary. It reminded me a little of Judge Judy-only the judge was a man. The judge several times had to remind the women of the rules and was a bit terse with them. After he heard what they had to say he made up his mind on what should happen, in this case that a CPO should be granted. I know that's what a judge is supposed to do, but for some reason I was really taken by how the judge could just decide what he thought really happened and give a ruling. Maybe that's just because in college we often answer the question "what's right/wrong?" with "it depends" and don't often have to throw all our eggs in one basket. Some other cases were interesting too. In one, an interpreter was brought in, and when the case was done the wife asked if she could give her husband (the man who had been issued a CPO) some mail he would need and also gave him his bible. It just seemed funny to me. Another case requred a prisoner to be brought in who was handcuffed and in chains.

Seeing the court was a really good experience. It wasn't really glamorous and perfectly orchestrated. It was actually kind of noisy and the bailiff would have to confiscate cell phones and tell mothers to take their babies out. But I thought it was a lot of fun. These were real people with real problems-some more marginal than others-but nonetheless everyone agrees that what the judge says will be followed. I hope to have more chances to sit in on more cases, but I am thankful that each new experience I have here gets me excited about law. Phew! I'm still headed in the right direction!