Judges are not free to join the national political debate with the reckless abandon of ordinary citizens. Judges must rely on others even to enforce their own rulings. A judge is a paradoxical combination of absolute power and total powerlessness. Socially, they must be careful. While that does not mean judges cannot have a social life, there is no question that the need to be circumspect results in a certain amount of solitude.
Judges have little freedom to explain specifically beyond their filed written rulings.
Nearly always, judges seem brilliant to 50 percent of those involved, and, at the very least, misguided to the other 50 percent. Frequently overlooked, as we examine what functions as a substitute for the proverbial gun battle in the street, is that society's worst problems wind up in court. That may seem obvious. A trend is an unreasoned force that becomes popular but is necessarily ephemeral. It may or may not be good.