Federal Judges

Federal Appellate Judges — They’re Just Like Us! They Love ‘Game Of Thrones,’ Too!

How many other federal judges love watching GoT?

‘A wise man once said a true history of the world is a history of great conversations in elegant rooms.’[1] Whether or not that may be accurate, a true history of the United States would be incomplete without a history of great political conversations, wherever they might have occurred. And great political conversations could not exist in the absence of the First Amendment. So the First Amendment generally prohibits government retaliation against a person for exercising his rights to free speech and association, including supporting the political party and candidates of his choice.

[1] Tyrion Lannister, speaking of himself. “Oathbreaker,” Game of Thrones (2016), as quoted by http://m.imdb.com/title/tt4131606/quotes?item=qt2914807 (last visited June 20, 2017).

— Judge Robin Rosenbaum, writing for a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit, and beginning the court’s opinion in a political freedom of association case with a quote from “Game of Thrones.” It’s likely that Judge Rosenbaum was watching the record-breaking Season 7 premiere of the show on Sunday, along with 16.1 million other viewers.


Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.