We decided to have a little fun with our Question of the Month and Reflections from the Bench articles this December. For our monthly survey, we asked NJC alumni how they would have ruled if they had presided over the case in the movie Miracle on 34th Street.
In the film, a judge must decide if the defendant, Kris Kringle, should be committed to a mental institution because he claims to be Santa Claus (a real-life conundrum faced by one of the NJC’s alumni). In the climactic scene, postal employees deliver bags of children’s-letters-to-Santa to Mr. Kringle in court. The defense argues that a branch of the federal government has thus recognized their client as Santa Claus, proving he is who he says he is.
Nearly 400 judges voted in our poll with 82 percent siding with the defense—case dismissed.
Click here to watch the movie judge’s ruling.
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