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Daily Inspiration Quote by Sol Wachtler

"You can, if you wish, think of it like the universe: Each case is a sun, and all the judges, lawyers and administrative personnel represent planets revolving around the case in fixed orbit, never getting closer"

About this Quote

A courtroom, Wachtler suggests, is less a forum for human judgment than a self-contained solar system: the case is the sun, everything else is forced into predictable rotation. It’s a chilly metaphor from a judge who knew how much the legal process runs on ritual, hierarchy, and distance. By making the “case” the gravitational center, he demotes the people supposedly in charge - judges included - into bodies constrained by a pull they didn’t choose. The line flatters the ideal of impartiality while quietly mocking it. “Fixed orbit” sounds like order; “never getting closer” sounds like alienation.

The specific intent reads like a warning to outsiders (and perhaps to idealistic insiders) who imagine the system bends easily to empathy or common sense. A case file is not a person’s life; it’s a constructed object with rules, deadlines, and evidentiary borders. Everyone involved must keep their distance to keep the machinery credible. The subtext is institutional self-protection: proximity is bias, but distance is also a way to avoid responsibility for the human fallout.

Context sharpens the cynicism. Wachtler’s career rose to the top of New York’s judiciary, and later collapsed in scandal - a biography that makes his cosmic detachment feel less like neutral description and more like confession. The metaphor captures how legal work can turn gravity into an alibi: the system, not the individual, dictates motion. When the “sun” is the case, no one has to admit they’re choosing the orbit.

Quote Details

TopicJustice
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Wachtler, Sol. (2026, January 16). You can, if you wish, think of it like the universe: Each case is a sun, and all the judges, lawyers and administrative personnel represent planets revolving around the case in fixed orbit, never getting closer. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/you-can-if-you-wish-think-of-it-like-the-universe-110469/

Chicago Style
Wachtler, Sol. "You can, if you wish, think of it like the universe: Each case is a sun, and all the judges, lawyers and administrative personnel represent planets revolving around the case in fixed orbit, never getting closer." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/you-can-if-you-wish-think-of-it-like-the-universe-110469/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"You can, if you wish, think of it like the universe: Each case is a sun, and all the judges, lawyers and administrative personnel represent planets revolving around the case in fixed orbit, never getting closer." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/you-can-if-you-wish-think-of-it-like-the-universe-110469/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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Each Case is a Sun: Sol Wachtler's Legal Universe Analogy
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About the Author

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Sol Wachtler (born November 24, 1930) is a Judge from USA.

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