As I mourn the loss of Judge Shapiro, I remain unsettled by the
Inquirer's obituary http://www.philly.com/inquirer/obituaries/20160723_U_S__District_Senior_Judge_Norma_Shapiro__87.html.
Because the obituary did not do justice to the Judge who fought so
hard for justice.
The Inquirer article focuses heavily on the 'famous'
prison overcrowding case. The complexities of the case go beyond a
short blog. However, one critical point does need to be made.
Judge Shapiro never set a cap on the number of prisoners as the
article suggests. Rather, she simply enforced a settlement
agreement that had been reached between the City and the plaintiff
class.
While active, the case was highly politicized. Inconvenient
facts were ignored by those who focused on the political and not
the legal.
