As part of an analysis of how U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, reports from her courtroom show a judge who is both “prickly” and" insecure" and often has trouble understanding what lawyers from both sides try to explain to her.
The controversial Cannon – who has been accused of slow-walking Donald Trump’s obstruction of justice trial related to his alleged illegal retention of government documents – in recent hearings has pressed lawyers to remake their points over and over, which led to the New York Times’ Alan Feuer to question whether, “she does not understand the answers she is receiving or is trying to push back against them.”
“Only the best,” am I right?
I’m not only not shocked about it, I’m 100% that this is more then normal for judges. We pretend they are knowledgeable and experienced, as they should. But a job that is appointed is always going to fall into nepotism, taking sides and incompetence.
The language of law isn’t straightforward, which is why most of us need to hire lawyers to defend ourselves and why we need judges who are versed in the language as well. Just because someone might appear to be “good” at making tough calls or judgements does not make them a good judge.
I’m almost guessing, outside of the very strong possibility that she is incompetent, that this is a tactic. I’ve experienced many instances of someone pretending to not understand or needing something spelled out several times as a way to distract from the actual topic.