The other week, I had a post on judging and its nature. (This was in the wake of the Supreme Court’s latest insults.) I heard from a reader, and thought I would share the e-mail:

You are right, most people would rather be a legislator than a judge, and that includes far too many who actually are judges. It is striking how the majority opinions in King and Obergefell scarcely bother to pretend to be engaging in legal analysis. In each case the author gives his reasons for favoring his preferred outcome and, because he has the votes to do so, enacts it, exactly like the floor manager of a bill in Congress.
I was a judge for 23 years. A humble trial judge, merely called upon to do justice, as best I could, between two parties with a dispute. I was not tasked with deciding public policy issues, and preferred it that way.
My retirement, scheduled months in advance, took effect at the end of last month. I was cleaning out my office on the days that the two decisions were handed down. I couldn’t help thinking that, by sheer coincidence, I was leaving at just the right time, as the rigorous and demanding profession I love turns into mere whimsy.