SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In Minnesota, one amateur rock band rules Supreme. It's an all-judge band called The Reasonable Doubts.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
THE REASONABLE DOUBTS: (Singing) Well, they said you was high class. Well, that was just a lie. Yeah, they said you was high class. Well, that was a lie.
SIMON: Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Anne McKeig began the band, and she joins us now with a bandmate, Justice Sarah Hennesy. Justices, thanks so much for being with us.
SARAH HENNESY: Thank you for having us.
ANNE MCKEIG: Thank you for having us.
SIMON: How did this idea come about, Justice McKeig?
MCKEIG: Well, it's something that I've wanted to do for a while. I have always had a love for music, and I also recognize the stress of our jobs and believe that there's a lot of talented people on the bench. So I just sent an email out to the judges in our state, got a fantastic response, and the idea just was born. And didn't really think a lot about it. We just jumped in and started practicing, and it's been an amazing experience.
SIMON: Justice Sarah Hennesy, what is the life of a judge like?
HENNESY: Well, you know, I was a district court judge for 12 years, and I've been on the Supreme Court now for a little over a year. And one thing that both of those positions have in common is we have people in our courtrooms who are dealing with very difficult moments in their lives and who are in pain in your courtroom, and you can't help but take on some of that pain. And when you make difficult decisions that make their lives difficult, that impacts you as well. And so this project has been a way for us to use music, to use art, really to heal.
SIMON: What are some of the songs that you play, Judge McKeig?
MCKEIG: We have, as you can imagine, a wide range of music tastes. But we do a lot of cover songs. We're doing some Mellencamp, some AC/DC, throw in some Beyonce.
SIMON: I got to tell you, I wasn't expecting that. But go ahead, yes.
(LAUGHTER)
MCKEIG: I mean, when I say a wide range, it's a wide range.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
THE REASONABLE DOUBTS: (Singing) It's just the same old, same old day after day. Somebody get me a sunshine getaway.
SIMON: Any original works, or is it kind of hard to rhyme oh, yay (ph), oh, yay, oh, yay?
MCKEIG: It's a little hard to rhyme that.
HENNESY: Yes, it is. It's funny that you ask, though, because it is something that several of us who are in the band have been in bands in our former lives and have written music in the past. And some of us are very talented musicians. And they are interested, I think, in writing some originals. So that might be the next thing we move into.
SIMON: I'm afraid the song - just about the only one about judges I could think of is - you know "Trial By Jury," Gilbert and Sullivan?
HENNESY: I don't know that.
SIMON: Oh, you guys are such rockers, aren't you? You really are.
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: It's...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TRIAL BY JURY: WHEN I, GOOD FRIENDS, WAS CALLED TO THE BAR")
GILBERT AND SULLIVAN: (Singing) When I, good friends, was called to the bar, I'd an appetite fresh and hearty.
SIMON: (Singing) But I was, as young many barristers are, an impecunious party.
What do you think?
HENNESY: Are you free on September 26?
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: Oh, my word. Do you wear black robes on stage?
HENNESY: Absolutely not.
MCKEIG: But we do wear black.
SIMON: You have black T-shirts - right? - I think I've seen, right?
MCKEIG: Sure, why not?
SIMON: Yeah, sure, why not? But why?
MCKEIG: Well, for one thing, it makes me look thinner, which is exactly why I would wear black.
HENNESY: Well, we don't wear the robes because really the being in the band and doing this on the side is something to get us out of the judicial mindset to do something really different, you know, move from one side of your brain to the other.
MCKEIG: Yeah, I mean, it really has been lifting the spirits, I think, of, as you can imagine, an extremely stressful job, and also just recognizing all of the great work that our colleagues do and then trying to make a connection, really, with the public. It's not like people generally are in court because it's, you know, a wonderful experience. It's usually a crisis time in their life, and it's not something that people want to be a part of. And so I think this allows us to connect with the public in a way that just normalizes us as humans. That's probably one of the best things about it.
SIMON: So let me ask you both, what do you wish those of us outside the chambers really understood about the life of a judge?
MCKEIG: I would ask that people understand that we are just that, which is human. We make mistakes. We do our very best. It's a very serious job. It is one that we all are honored to partake in, but that it is extremely stressful because we really want to get it right, and when we don't get it right, the consequences can be huge, and we recognize that, and that weighs on us all the time. It's not a job that you can leave at the end of a day and go home and not think about. And that's a heavy burden, one that we accept knowingly. But it would be nice if the public could also just see us as regular people.
HENNESY: I want to make sure that everyone recognizes that, in being part of this band, this is not something we're doing during our hours when we should be working. It's always on the weekend, and it's a great outlet for anyone out there who has a difficult job that they're dealing with. I can't tell you how much bringing music into my life on the weekends has really helped me to process that.
SIMON: Can you tell us how bailiffs or clerks feel about it?
MCKEIG: People that we know are clerks - they have loved the joy that it's bringing and the positive reaction that it's been bringing because again, being in the courts, we don't always hear that side.
HENNESY: Yeah, I think they appreciate - I know our clerks at least really appreciate coming to find out that, you know, we have lives outside of the courtroom, that we're not always serious, that we're not always talking about cases, that we have another facet of our personality as well that is interesting.
SIMON: Minnesota Supreme Court Justices Anne McKeig and Sarah Hennesy. They're members of The Reasonable Doubts. Justices, thank you very much, and rock and roll on.
HENNESY: Thank you so much. It's been fun talking.
MCKEIG: Thank you for your interest.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
THE REASONABLE DOUBTS: (Singing) Everybody wants to take a little chance. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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