Time & Perspective Quote by Lance Ito

Ito’s most revealing move here is procedural: he doesn’t argue for or against cameras; he argues for not arguing. Coming from the judge who presided over the O.J. Simpson trial, that posture isn’t neutrality so much as triage. The quote is a small masterclass in judicial self-protection under celebrity-pressure conditions: acknowledge the uproar, name its source, then decline to become another talking head in the same churn.

The phrasing does quiet work. “Pundits and the news media” lumps critique into one noisy bloc, implicitly contrasting it with the court’s supposed discipline. “Carried a lot of commentary” makes the controversy feel like baggage the media hauls around, not a substantive civic issue. And the Simpson case becomes both cause and cautionary tale: not simply a trial, but a cultural machine that turned legal process into serialized entertainment, then demanded the courtroom adapt to the ratings logic it never asked for.

“I have not had enough time” is the key alibi. It reads like humility, but it also signals control: the judge sets the timetable for reflection, not the public. “Step back” suggests he’s been inside the storm, too close for clean judgments, while “evaluate” invokes a quasi-scientific standard the media’s hot takes allegedly lack. Subtext: the institution is being judged on television, yet the judge insists the institution can only respond on its own terms, in its own tempo. In a media age that rewards instant takes, Ito performs the oldest courtroom tactic: sustain the objection by refusing the premise.