Kopf: A Short Take on “Special” Federal Judges And The Vaccine

You don’t know it, but there is a stealthy movement for federal judges to get priority treatment for vaccination from COVID-19. I won’t go into detail how I know about the “we are special movement,” but I am not lying. It’s true and its pervasive. It goes all the way to the mother ship, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

“Great British Baking Show Judge” Prue Leith, aged 80, was among the first to get the magic vax in the UK.

There is no doubt that COVID-19 has wreaked havoc in the federal courts. For example, in our little court we suspended trying cases in the spring, started again but have since stopped again. We aren’t trying jury cases for December and January.

The plague has hit an Article III judge in our court, numerous probation officers and deputy clerks. Potential jurors are scared.

For a while, we picked juries in criminal cases using two courtrooms so 22 people could socially distance in each courtroom. While our clerks did a fantastic job, jury selection was ultra-challenging.

You can’t get into our courthouse without a mask. Your temperature is taken every time you enter. You must always wear the mask unless a judge gives his, her or their (pick your personal pronoun) dispensation.

It has been a nightmare.

But now we apparently have wonder drugs but not enough, at present, to go around. So special people get them first. Silently the federal judiciary is trying to cut in line and get special treatment. That bothers me for reasons you might guess and for reasons that you could not know because you don’t belong to the federal judges’ club.

In my view, federal judges (save for Supreme Court Justices) are not special when it comes to getting a vaccine! But I would be interested to know what practitioners think. So, tell me what you think, please.

Richard G. Kopf
Senior United States District Judge (Nebraska)

35 thoughts on “Kopf: A Short Take on “Special” Federal Judges And The Vaccine

  1. Turk

    If judges get preference, and they get vaccinated publicly, it helps instill confidence in the vaccine. And keeping the anti-vaxxers at bay is more important than whether You think you are special. It helps the greater community effort. The fact that the public believes you are special is enough.

    1. Miles

      There’s a long, long, LONG, list of prominent folks who would come well before judges who would instill confidence in the vaccine. You’re really grasping at straws here.

    2. Richard Kopf

      Turk, as Miles points out, if you desire PR to fight the idiotic anti-vax bunch there are host of others, like over the road truckers who deliver food, who would serve the purpose. And what do you say to my dear friend and former law partner who is a trial judge with a huge criminal load where there is a very high infectious rate? At the very least we feds, shouldn’t get the vaccine before they do.

      All the best.

      RGK

      1. Turk

        Judge:

        PR is important. Like it or not, anyone that needs the U.S. Senate to get their job is perceived as a leader and important.

        Truckers (and many, many others, like your friend) may be more at risk. But risk is only one factor in prioritizing. Acceptance is, to me, exceptionally important. (Individual v. Community). Which is why I think it was good that Pence jumped the line to get vaccinated live on TV. No matter how badly he and Trump screwed the pooch.

        1. SHG

          I happen to disagree with Judge Kopf, not because judges are special but because there are people sitting in MCC awaiting trials and they deserve to have their constitutional right to a speedy trial honored.

          As for PR, put Beyonce on TV. Like Miles says, there are plenty of high profile people to provide the PR benefit far more effectively than federal judges.

      2. Richard N. Janney

        If we had a well regulated universal health plan then we wouldn’t have this problem. I am 79 and really should not be entitled to any preference. Having said that I will get my vaccinations as soon as eligible and available. So should a Judge take the shot if eligible? Yes. Given our chaotic medical state of affairs, a Federal Judge taking the shot won’t deny anyone else. I won’t judge those that do. Or don’t. Senior but not a judge.

    3. Richard Kopf

      Turk,
      What about my former law partner who is a trial judge in state court out west (true flyover country) with high criminal numbers and a high COVID rate?

      All the best.

      RGK

      1. Turk

        Judge:

        Pushing federal judges to near the front of the line is not to the exclusion of all others. You are, statistically, a very small group. And your friend who handles a large number of criminal cases certainly sounds like an essential worker to me. He would likewise be near the front of the line. But for a different reason than you.

        1. PML

          It won’t do any good to vaccinate the Judges unless you also do the clerks, bailiffs, attorney’s, defendant’s, witnesses and Jurors.

          Come to think of it, maybe they should then tell the Jury pool if you show up you get vaccinated before serving. That would get more people to show up.

  2. Dr. Enuf

    The third branch is as important as the other two. For the continued functioning of government, judges should have some priority. Judges might not be special when it comes to a lot of things (mortgage rates, flying first class), but their place in our democracy is special, and their role should be preserved. If that means a slight priority for a vaccine, so be it.

    1. Richard Kopf

      Don’t get me started with vaccination of everyone in Congress. The Speaker of the House and ranking member and the same for the Senate is a plan of plenty.

      All the best.

      RGK

  3. Hunting Guy

    I’m not an anti-vaxxer.

    I got my flu shot. I’ve gotten my shingles and pneumonia shots. My tetanus is up to date. I’m 70 years old, I’m not obese and I don’t have diabetes.

    I’m not a conspiracy nut. I don’t believe the vaccine is designed to reduce world population or microchip the population.

    But I’m not getting the COVID shot.

    As I said in a previous post, I remember the Thalidomide babies. This vaccine has been rushed and we have no idea what the long term effects may be.

    After due consideration I’ve decided that at this time the shot is not for me. In two or three years I will revisit the subject. Others can make their own decisions.

      1. Hunting Guy

        And why should they be any more special than Joe Blow citizen? I bet Judge Kopf puts his pants on the same way I do.

    1. Jeffrey M Gamso

      As a 71-year-old leukemia survivor (full remission, thank you for asking), I’m likely near the top of the second tier. I get the uncertainty around long term effect. (I remember Thalidomide, too.). But I figure I’m old, and by the time the long-term effects hit me, I’ll be dead anyhow. (Sort of a joke. My wife hates when I say it.)

      I truly hate shots of any sort, but I’m getting it the first day I’m eligible. I want to be able to hug my kids again. It’s really that simple.

    2. Keith Lynch

      It’s fine with me if people don’t want to get vaccinated. That puts me closer to the head of the line. As for VIPs getting vaccinated first, I’m an adult and I’m perfectly aware that equality is a myth told to gullible children. I know that I’ll always be in the back of the queue and that our rulers, including federal judges, will always be in front. That’s just how the world works.

  4. Jeffrey M Gamso

    Not just the feds.

    Here in Ohio, our Chief Justice sent a letter to our Governor, who’ll roll out the vaccine order, asking that judges and “court staffers” be first in line.

  5. Skink

    The scheme of testing medications has been altered in this instance and for expediency. In a real sense, those who are early-vaccinated are test subjects. If prisoners don’t get it first, then judges are a fair equivalent.

    I assume the reasoning is that if judges get inoculated, the system gets back to functionality. But that leaves out a whole lot of people that actually make the system functional.

  6. Drew Conlin

    Many people are claiming they should have priority. To get the vaccine. Shouldn’t the most vulnerable get it before others ? That would be elderly, those with co- morbidities then the following criteria for most vulnerable and so on … so if you fall into this groups and are a federal judge as well of course you should get it.
    It’s unpleasant to watch those claiming they should be 1st in line. It could mean more will suffer and even die.

    1. Richard Kopf

      Drew, thanks for your comment. You write: “It’s unpleasant to watch those claiming they should be 1st in line. It could mean more will suffer and even die.” You’re right.

      All the best.

      RGK

  7. Pedantic Grammar Police

    CNN is cautioning us to not be “alarmed” if our loved ones die after getting the vaccine. “”We would not at all be surprised to see, coincidentally, vaccination happening and then having someone pass away a short time after they receive a vaccine”

    Nobody is allowed to question the safety of the vaccine on social media. Meanwhile, the media performs a singing, dancing propaganda exercise to convince us that the vaccine is not only safe, but wonderful and exciting. ““All of my staff, you know, we are excited to get the vaccine. We are in the COVID unit, so therefore, you know, my team will be getting first chances to get the vaccine,” Dover said. “And I know that it’s really … Sorry, I’m feeling really dizzy,””

    So yes, those who lead us; politicians, judges, etc., should definitely be the guinea pigs.

  8. Maurice Ross

    You absolutely deserve priority. Federal Judges are critical to Democracy and justice. Each of you is a hero to the legal profession. We need each of you to exercise your independence and constitutional mandate. You are special and we need you to be healthy

    1. Richard Kopf

      Maurice,

      Setting aside our differences on specialty, the very few federal judges who would get the virus, or suffer any adverse medical condition that would keep them off the bench (after short quarantine), in the next six months if they don’t get the shot now is insignificant. Everyone who wants the shot will be able to get it soon enough. But jumping the line for all federal judges is wrong on many levels.

      All the best.

      RGK

    2. JR

      The question is how to putting an ordering to just how special someone is. At this point it sounds like trials have been put on hold. SHG points out that problem, and I don’t have any suggestions on how to solve that issue. However, I’ve yet to see democracy and justice completely fall apart. Will a delay of one, two, maybe three months for federal judges to get the shot mean the end of society? We have wanted this long, is another month or two really going to make a diference?

      I’m special. The people I work for are responsible for the logistics of shipping the vaccines. What about truck drivers that make sure we have food in the store. Power, gas, electric workers. How about local courts that see many more people per day than a federal court. I could go on and on with special groups that you really don’t want to be disabled.

      This special problem of who is more special is silly. By the time you debate it and work it all out it will be a few months down the road and 70% of the population should have received a vaccine. That magic number is when they expect herd effects to take hold and really drop the inflection rate. (Mrs. JR works for CDC. I hear some inside stuff)

      That said, I would be very sad to hear that we lost Judge Kopf because he didn’t get the shot as quickly as others.

  9. Jake

    Judge, it’s been a while since I looked at the statistics on the average age of an Article III but as I recall, on average, one has typically collected quite a bit of moss before they are seated. When it comes to COVID19, the venerable are vulnerable. Therefore…Take your medicine. Happy Holidays.

    Respectfully,

    Jake

  10. Jay

    In Idaho we have had the same lack of trials. We have watched the right to a jury trial and the right to a speedy trial be suspended over the lamest plague ever. If you do the research, you’ll learn during the actual plagues they never suspended court for nearly as long. I cannot understand the willingness of the judiciary to simply let our liberties die over a nasty flu. I certainly think everyone the judges have kept waiting, from those trapped in disease infested jails, to those who simply can’t move on with life due to pending allegations, should get the vaccine long before judges do.

    I’ve lost a lot of respect for the judiciary during covid. I wish the media paid some attention to what has been done to our constitution.

  11. miketrials

    After I hit SEND, I hope I wake up from this nightmare, where I find myself aligning with Scott far more than with His Honor.

    Not only will I see the bet re federal judges, though only USDJ and USMJ, but I’ll raise it with federal prosecutors, and criminal defense attorneys, and courtroom staff and USMS. All fit, if we are to go forward with federal criminal trials, within Drew’s “vulnerable.”

    I’m nowhere near alone in having clients well past 18 months in the pokey awaiting trial, with a further 6 or 9 already imposed by way of a scheduling order stretching into next summer or autumn.

    I truly admire Judge Kopf, but I’d prefer to remove every unreasonable impediment to a citizen’s right to trial, and the Bail Reform Act isn’t doing the trick at present. A thousand-odd USDJ and MJ seems a small jump of the queue, with a large payoff in this context. But state criminal courts and trials? Not a clue.

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