You may remember from your grade school American History
class that John Hancock was the first person to sign the American Declaration
of Independence. His signature was big
and bold, and he reputedly stated that King George would not have to put on his
spectacles to read it!
Over time, “John Hancock” has become a synonym for
signature.
Of all the professions, doctors are supposed to have the
worst handwriting. I have compared my
signature to that of my younger brother, Dr. Mike. Dr. Mike’s signature has always been more
legible than mine…..
Judges are as notorious for poor handwriting as
doctors. Periodically, our district
office will collect copies of all of the judges’ signatures, with their names
printed alongside, and distribute them through the system so, for instance,
officers who are executing a search warrant can actually know who the judge was
who signed the warrant!
I’ve produced many a John Hancock in my career as
judge. Recently, I kept track and found
that I’d affixed my name to 40 different legal documents in one day! A conservative estimate would be that, in my
26 year career as a judge, I have signed well over 100,000 orders, on file permanently
in the District Court.
The happiest orders I have signed make new families: adoptions are by far the most joyful work a
judge can do. Marriage certificates are
other happy orders. But, there have been
sad orders, too: committing a person to
prison or a mental institution or signing the final divorce decree.
I have signed sentencing orders on probably thousands of
criminal cases. These may go from
assessing a fine for a traffic ticket to sentencing a person to the county jail
for domestic abuse to sentencing a young man to prison for life for committing
murder. That was sobering.
It’s a cliché that the job is not over until the paperwork
is done. The divorce is not final, the
adoption is not approved, the will is not admitted to probate and the marriage
is not recognized until a judge affixes his or her signature.
I recall Twins players telling how they were lectured by
Harmon Killebrew to sign autographs so that people could tell whose signature
it was. Sometimes, when I have a stack
of a couple dozen orders to sign, I’ll remember Mr. Killebrew’s advice, slow
down and try to be more careful with my signature – after all, it will be in
the court records forever. But even when
I do, it’s barely more legible.
And after all, there are people waiting for me to get back
in the courtroom.
