PING: Judges Should Not Abdicate Decisionmaking to Rock, Papers, ScissorsURL: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2007/01/judges_should_n.htmlIP: 10.0.20.5BLOG NAME: Legal Profession BlogDATE: 01/22/2007 08:20:32 PMPosted by Alan ChildressWhile some courts have disciplined their members for making judicial decisions based on coin-flips and the like, a more subtle abdication seems to be catching on — a Georgia federal court borrowed it from a Florida one

A federal judge in Georgia has apparently decided to settle some of the disputes in a consumer debt-collection case by making the lawyers do “rock-paper-scissors.”  If this sort of alternative dispute resolution catches on, we’ll need professional advice from folks like the World Rock-Paper-Scissors Society, which has been “serving the needs of decision makers since 1918.”

Which reminds me that my two little boys have learned a Texas version of this, which is called “rock-paper-gun.”  Gun apparently beats both scissors and paper.

[ADD:  Alan Childress over at our sister blog, Legal Profession, makes the excellent point that this kind of conduct by judges isn’t likely to increase public confidence in the judicial system.]

[Frank Snyder]