Court Review: Volume 38, Issue 2 - Extrajudicial Speech: Navigating Perils and Avoiding Pitfalls

In its biting opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia castigated Judge Jackson for giving media interviews and public speeches in which he made remarkably astringent remarks about Microsoft. Among his more colorful comments, the judge mused that Bill Gates had Napoleonic hubris and he likened the break-up of Microsoft to swatting a recalcitrant mule with a two-by-four. Among his more potentially prejudicial remarks were his speculation to reporters— before his order splitting Microsoft—that ‘a break-up is inevitable” and his post-trial comments disparaging the credibility of trial witnesses.