The bench, the rookies learn, is a lonesome perch. You can't talk to them anymore. Not like before, at least. Conversations with former law partners are suddenly stunted. Golf buddies, to avoid the appearance of impropriety, stop dropping by.
Judges become friends, mostly, with other judges.
How power and isolation can deform a judge's personality is a point the instructors hammer home. It's a lonely job, and there's nobody to talk to. It's very easy to lose perspective and to get isolated. Judges whose jokes were never funny, now facing an ocean of grovelers and feigned smiles, suddenly believe they're adept comedians. Diskey said he has already noticed the change in the way people treat him.