Judges who stand up to presidents

The courage of John Sirica

John Sirica never shied away from a fight.

He coached boxers three nights a week while in law school, sparred with an ex-welterweight champion and won a match that prompted a local paper to call him a “great little mitt artist.”

Sirica was a loyal Republican who was appointed to a federal judgeship in Washington by President Dwight Eisenhower and rose to become chief judge of his district. Yet when the seven defendants in the break-in to the Watergate office of the Democratic National Committee were coming up for trial, and Republicans were seeking to avoid blame, the 68-year-old judge assigned the case to himself.

The five men caught in the DNC headquarters on June 17, 1972 carried thousands in cash, along with cameras and bugging equipment. Ron Ziegler, press secretary for President Richard M. Nixon, called it a “third-rate burglary” and predicted, “certain elements may try to stretch this beyond what it is.”

Sirica could have let the case fade in public consciousness by accepting guilt…