WE WHO LABOR HERE...

UPDATE: This was the scene Monday morning as lines to enter the REGJB streatched around the block as thousands of Dade County citizens lined up to view the signs hanging in courtrooms in the REGJB.

Not since old Judge Willard said he saw the Blessed Virgin Mary in a slice of Cazzoli's Pizza has the public been so interested in seeing something inside our humble little courthouse.

Attorney Louie Jepeway is on a mission. (Cue Mission Impossible Theme).

He wants to get rid of the sign that hangs above every judicial bench in Dade County: "We who labor here seek only the truth."

Jepeway has filed a motion to have the sign removed in a case before Judge Sayfie.

The Miami Herald and ace reporter David Ovalle broke this sign shaking story here.

From the article:

According to Miami-Dade’s courts historian, the sign was introduced in the late 1940s by Circuit Judge George S. Holt, a philosopher of sorts who once wrote his fellow jurists should “carry this saying etched in their hearts” in their “fervent quest for justice for their fellow man.”

Best anyone can tell, Holt came up with the saying, which is often quoted in other courts and has even made it’s way into a couple appeals-court opinions.

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard of anyone attacking the declaration,” said Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Scott Silverman, the historian.

Rumpole says: If anyone has a copy of Judge Holt's email to his "fellow jurists" about the slogan, we would love to see it.

Truth be told, we have rubbed that sign in the face of prosecutors and their witnesses more times then we can remember. It is a fairly effective tactic in closing argument to recall for the jury a witness for the prosecution who obviously was not telling the truth and then point to the sign and ask rhetorically "Do you think they believe what is on that sign that applies to the rest of us who work in this courtroom?" (Rumpole trial tip# 17- always try and use phrases containing words like "us" and "we" when speaking to the jury to align yourself with the jury.")

While we're on the subject of signs can we please start challenging Judges who blatantly violate the 14th amendment by banning citizens (namely children, or some signs say "babies") from their courtroom by hanging a sign on the door prohibiting them from entering the courtroom? We would love to see them defend their right to exclude a whole class of people from their courtroom. We have noted before that in enlightened jurisdictions Judges have their bailiffs approach the person with a child to find out why they are in court. The information is then passed to the Judge who calls that person's case out of turn. We of course applaud the child care option in the REGJB, but that still does not give Judges the right to ban children from their courtroom as a blanket policy, so to speak. .

See You In Court, seeking truth.