ABSTRACT
There is, of course, one major exception to these fictional judges and that is the portrayal of the whole Supreme Court in the made-for-TV movie Separate but Equal (1991). Here, drawing on the Brown v Board of Education decision in 1954, we see the legal work of the court as a series of policy meetings with arm-twisting and politicking between the judges as the essence of the judicial work process. In its way First Monday in October (1981) hints at this with the discussion of the First Amendment between the fictional Supreme Court justices Ruth Loomis and Dan Snow before it shifts into a romantic mystery. This debate between the advocate of community standards and for free speech lasts for some five minutes. It bears the hallmarks of being a cut down version of a full scene in the Broadway play on which it was based (Ray, 1997). In Amistad (1997), we see a judge chosen for political reasons, basically put forward as a pawn by Martin von Buren, the President of the USA, thinking that he would be sympathetic to the governmental line. Here the ploy backfires as the judge is not as compliant as it was thought he would be. In The Rainmaker (1997) the spectre of judicial prejudice and partiality is raised by the actions of Judge Harvey Hale (Dean Stockwell). His precise impact can only be surmised since he dies before the trial and he is replaced by a scrupulously fair substitute, Judge Tyrone Kippler (Danny Glover). Coming from the ranks of prosecuting authorities he is determined not to allow the size and prestige of the law firm determine the conduct of the litigation.
