Judge, Me

Judge Spencer Rank stands in the well of his courtroom on a late Friday afternoon surrounded by well-wishers. They stare at the beautiful cake and celebrate his destiny: elevation to the supreme court Monday morning. As he jokes with those in the courtroom, Whelan Browne, a vengeful reporter, rises from a rear seat. They lock eyes, then the courtroom deputy confronts Browne. The judge watches as Browne poses a question that startles him. As he contemplates his response, Cole Steele, a compromised and enigmatic criminal defense lawyer barred from the courtroom, enters. Judge Rank holds Steele in contempt and remands him to custody while Browne tells the deputy an expose' that focuses on the judge will be published tomorrow unless the judge talks now.

The judge orders the well-wishers to leave the courtroom and Steele is escorted to the judge's chambers. Browne stated the publication could only be stopped within the next few hours. As Judge Rank and Steele glare at each other, the lawyer insists he can help the judge but only if he's out of custody and the contempt citation is revoked.

Judge Rank despises Steele, but grudgingly respects his courtroom skills. Steele persuades the judge to use his courtroom and have group-therapy prison inmates appear by phone. They act as jurors to determine whether the judge should be in Browne's expose' of the justice system. The judge is suspicious that Steele appeared in the courtroom, but he's unable to reach his lawyer. Browne is brought to chambers. Judge Rank and Browne antagonize each other, but Browne reluctantly allows group-therapy inmates mediate his dispute with the judge.

After the parties agree on the ground rules with MS Garcia, a salty and confrontational group leader, and as Browne gives his opening statement to the jurors, Dog Walker, the judge's Lil' Sizzler and now his "thirty-year mistake" enters with her poodle and a flask of whiskey. If the judge had any reluctance to accomodate Browne, the reporter's initial comment that his expose' focuses on The Overlord and Black Satins confirms he's too late.

The judge is questioned under oath, and Steele demonstrates his wily trial skills. Browne knows too much about the judge's past. Particularly about two unsolved, cold-case childhood homicides. Browne directs questions to the judge about the investigations as he receives help on his phone from whom Steele says must be a prosecutor. Browne pivets and overwhelms the judge with questions regarding payments that land in his investment account each month after the judge recommends an inmate to a treatment program.

Panicky, the judge believes Steele is ineffective and Dog Walker might be involved in this. Judge Rank calls the governor again and threatens him. Trapped, alone and desperate, he relies on Steele to rescue him. Confronted by his history of debauchery and illegality, he resigns himself to becoming a reformed judge. In that moment the judge's career is salvaged until Celeste, a federal prosecutor, enters the courtroom, arrests him.

All is lost when Sam Buehler, a former U.S. senator, appears. He talks with Celeste and together they resurrect Judge Rank's career through power politics. Browne's expose' is cancelled, the group-therapy inmates receive a not-so-subtle threat of a life sentence if they whisper a word of this hearing and the judge now realizes who put in motion the effort to destroy him.