Exit Interview With Judge Posner

Richard Posner, famous for his acid wit and outspoken views, retired from the federal bench abruptly on Labor Day weekend. In an interview with Crain’s he explains why. It had a lot to do with the cavalier way pro se litigants are treated in the courts, and he gives some telling examples, including one that concerns an inmate who died in prison. He says that drug laws should be repealed with the exception of the law against the opiod fentanyl, and shares a recently acquired insight about why prisoners often wait years for trial – state judges don’t like trials. When a prosecutor tries to set one they will delay on purpose, hoping the defendant will be released before they have to hear the case.