Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson once wrote that truly “dispassionate judges” are “mythical beings” like “Santa Claus or Uncle Sam or Easter bunnies.” Our ethical codes acknowledge that we are emotional beings by requiring us to recuse from presiding over a hearing involving friends or relatives. When we’re presiding over hearings involving evidence of elder abuse, animal cruelty, and extreme maltreatment or neglect of children, we have to regulate our emotions to maintain the neutrality necessary to reach an objective decision. Justice Sotomayor would remind us that “[I]t’s not the heart that compels conclusions in cases, it’s the law.” But we can’t help feeling what we feel. This session examines our duty to remain impartial and how that can best be accomplished in difficult circumstances.