Law in Popular Culture
Judge Judy, in a rare interview, reflects on her iconic TV show as it reaches its final season
By Randy Maniloff
Photo courtesy of CBS Television Distribution.
In 1987, Judge Judith Sheindlin of New York County Family Court terminated a couple’s parental rights to their two young children. The mother had shown no interest in raising them. Their father had been incarcerated for several years, and his release was many more away.
In issuing her opinion that the parents had neglected their children, now freeing the youngsters for adoption, Sheindlin observed that children “do not wait in a state of limbo while their parents mature.” But the judge wasn’t finished.