Maggie Wittlin | 76 Vand. L. Rev. 1735

If you were a federal judge presiding over a bench trial, you probably would not want the Federal Rules of Evidence to apply to you. Sure, you might want to be insulated from privileged information. But you are, no doubt, capable of cool-headed, rational reasoning, and you have a realistic understanding of how the world works; if you got evidence that was unreliable or easy to overvalue, you could handle it appropriately. But surely, you would have the same desire if you were a juror—it is not your position as a judge that makes you want all the relevant evidence. And in either event, you would, perhaps, be overestimating your own abilities.

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Maggie Wittlin