A colloquy quoted in Judge Kozinski’s powerful dissent in In re Complaint of Judicial Misconduct reminded me of a line from one of Juvenal’s Satires:
| MR. KATZ: And the motion to lift the stay is denied? THE COURT: Denied; that’s right. MR. KATZ: May I ask the reasons, your Honor? THE COURT: Just because I said it, Counsel. |
I wish it, I command it. Let my will take the place of a reason. |
Juvenal had his own axe to grind, and a rather different sort of decisionmaker that he was condemning; likewise Martin Luther, who liked to use the line to condemn the Pope. But it seems to me the line is more broadly applicable, including apparently to some federal courtrooms.
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