How Judges Judge: Exploring the Medical Analogy.

How strong is the analogy between judging and doctoring? I examine how close these two practices are by exploring the internal and external goods associated with each practice. In a recent book, Jerome Groopman argues that changes in society, technology, and medical education are changing what it means to be a doctor. He concludes by affirming the importance of the doctor-patient relationship. Groopman's analysis is, to some extent, consistent with a virtue-centered approach to medical practice. After identifying common themes in Groopman's book and virtue ethics, I conduct a similar inquiry on the practice of judging. As a reference point, I refer to Judge Richard Posner's book on how judges think. Posner's elaborate analysis is framed in terms of a judicial utility function that hinges on internal and external constraints on judicial behavior. He argues that the incentives of certain external constraintsâ??money, promotion, and prestige, for exampleâ??do not adequately account for judge's self-selection into the practice. He suggests there is something to be said for the internal constraint of a judge wanting to be a good judge. With this in view, I argue that Posner's position is prima facie compatible with a virtue-centered theory of judging. To elaborate on what such a theory would entail, I refer to recent work on virtue jurisprudence. Next, I examine whether Posner's judicial pragmatism is, indeed, compatible with a virtue-centered theory of judging. Finally, I attempt to show what a virtue-centered approach to the special case of the sentencing judge's practice might look like. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]