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CNN Larry King Live
Judge Judy: Order in the Court!
Aired November 12, 2007 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, order in the court...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "JUDGE JUDY," COURTESY CBS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION)
JUDGE JUDY SHEINDLIN: No, I'm not ready for you yet.
KING: TV's one and only Judge Judy lays down the law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "JUDGE JUDY," COURTESY CBS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION)
SHEINDLIN: Your conduct, sir, was outrageous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We'll ask her about Britney Spears, Dog the bounty hunter, Oprah's school scandal and a lot more. You've got an issue, she's got an opinion.
Judge Judy -- justice served.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "JUDGE JUDY," COURTESY CBS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION)
SHEINDLIN: I don't believe you. It doesn't make sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Plus, your calls and e-mails.
Next on LARRY KING LIVE.
What a way to begin the week, with one of our favorite guests, Judge Judy Sheindlin.
A Happy Veterans Day to all.
She's "The New York Times" best-selling author, entering her twelfth season in September -- started her twelfth season.
There's so many judge shows now.
Do you sort feel like you're sort of leading the pack?
What do you make of all of these shows? SHEINDLIN: I think that people are desperate for some reality in the justice system. I think that we started that concept 12 years ago so that people got a good sense of, you know, common sense, what's right, what's wrong, what is real justice. And I think that in the television business, when something works, they don't try to come up with something else that works, they mimic what works. And you know that that's true -- whether it's talk show or court programming or reality programming. Sometimes it's a game show. You hit a great game show, everybody is doing a game show. You hit a -- so I think that...
KING: Yours is the purist reality, right?
It's real people, in real situations.
SHEINDLIN: I like to think so.
KING: Yes.
By the way, you mentioned television and the like.
What do you make of this dispute, the writers' strike out there in L.A.?
A lot of people out of work. This is -- you're in conflict resolution.
Do you think we'll get this settled?
SHEINDLIN: Well, you know, I think that part of the problem is that -- I am a neophyte in this business, as you know. So I come to it almost a virgin. But the studio has a reputation -- the studio -- when I mean studio -- the studios have a reputation of doing creative accounting, of not seeing to it that the talent and writers are compensated sufficiently, you know, those people who are profit participants in shows that are on for 20 years who never see a penny of profit. That sort of creative accounting is sort of legendary in this business.
And I think that the writers are saying now we are engaging in a new medium in this new millennium. Nobody knows where it's going, but it's clear that the studios, the business, is going to make money.
Why shouldn't we participate in that good fortune, if we now have so many more venues for our talents?
And I think that they're right. I think the studios say, well, we don't know what this business is going to be eventually -- what it's going to give us eventually. They're not asking for -- I don't think they're asking for a fixed number. They're asking for a percentage. They're saying, listen, if you make $100 from this new -- from an iPod or from watching it on your telephone or from wherever you're watching it -- we just want a piece of the pie.
KING: Would you like...
SHEINDLIN: That doesn't seem unreasonable. KING: Would you like to mediate that conflict?
SHEINDLIN: If somebody asked me to, it would be my pleasure.
KING: It wouldn't -- they could do a lot worse.
Let's get to other topics.
Dog -- it will be settled though, don't you think?
SHEINDLIN: It has to be settled. These people have to make a living.
KING: They have to work.
Dog the bounty hunter was on this show last week. You may have heard about it. He repeatedly used the "N" word in what he thought was a private phone call and you know the story.
Let's listen to Dog and your thoughts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUANE "DOG" CHAPMAN: I've been here several times sitting in front of you. Tonight, it felt like I was coming to the electric chair.
KING: Really?
CHAPMAN: I'm sorry to tell you, personally, first of all. I'm very sorry. I know you had, also, a lot of faith in me. I'm very sorry for using that word. Please don't think any less of me. And I'm going to fix it -- a way to fix this and where it would never happen again and that, you know, how sorry I really am to say that and try not to use any excuses why I would have said it, but to never say it again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: What's your view of that story?
SHEINDLIN: Well, I think his apology was a heartfelt apology. That's just my sense. I think he's sorry he said it and he's sorry he got caught saying it. I also think that you have to go back to the dysfunctional family that permits a child to -- and I think that that's what happened, am I correct?
His child recorded it.
KING: Two did it. The second one recorded it.
SHEINDLIN: Yes. Recorded a conversation they had with their father.
KING: And sold it to the tabloids.
SHEINDLIN: And then sold it. Now, your kids may be angry at you for one thing or another, but I cannot in my wildest moment think of one of my children divulging...
KING: Selling you out.
SHEINDLIN: ...divulging something that I said to them in private to the rest of the world for any reason, the least of which is money. So he did something wrong in his lifetime in order to create children that would do something like that.
Having said that, you know, very often when people are in the heat of anger or drunk or on drugs, they say things that they mean.
Who knows?
I don't know. I wasn't there. I know that the man looks as if he apologized to you. He apologized to the country publicly. I wonder what kind of therapy he's going to be in with his children, if any. Don't know.
KING: Do you think using the "N" word automatically assumes racism?
SHEINDLIN: I think that there are lots of ways to describe a human being other than using that kind of pejorative. You know, whatever your sense is whatever group of people you're talking about, whenever you use a word that is so despicable, I think it brings something up from your gut. I mean I may be wrong. And I -- if I am, I apologize.
KING: Should -- should the TV network take him back?
SHEINDLIN: Well, that's a problem. I don't know. You know, I -- he's a reality guy. You know, he's a guy who was in prison, am I correct?
KING: Yes.
SHEINDLIN: I mean that's his -- he was in prison. He...
KING: He's a bounty hunter...
SHEINDLIN: He's a...
KING: ...and he takes cameras with him...
SHEINDLIN: Right.
KING: ...when he finds people.
SHEINDLIN: That's what he does. I mean the one positive think that I know that he did is he brought back what's his name, Andrew Luster?
KING: Yes.
SHEINDLIN: He brought him back from Mexico. I mean at least he gets a star -- at least one gold star for that -- that guy is sitting in jail now. It is where he belongs.
I don't know whether the network should take him back. Listen, Don Imus is back on the radio.
KING: Yes, in December.
SHEINDLIN: Right. So.
KING: What do you make of the Oprah school scandal?
SHEINDLIN: Oh, gee whiz. You know, somebody who...
KING: Does the buck stop with her?
She's far away from it.
SHEINDLIN: Oh, the buck always stops with the person at the top and I don't think Oprah right -- quite frankly, is trying to pass that buck onto anybody else. She is far away. It's an old story. You know, you try to do the right thing and you try -- she -- clearly, she had a pure heart when she created this school. She wanted to do nothing but good for the children there. You had one bad seed.
But I think that she has to be careful because when you are a celebrity like that, it is very possible that the people who are running a school like that said, listen, when Miss. Oprah comes, everybody put on a big smile and there are no complaints here. And I think that she has to be vigilant with regard to that. And she has to have her own people, you know, watching to make sure that this program runs properly, because I think being so far away, it's rife for bad things to happen.
KING: What's incredible is the amount of sexual perversion in the world. You know, people with children -- it's unbelievable to me.
SHEINDLIN: Do you think it's new or do you think it's just something that we...
KING: I don't know. I think it's new.
SHEINDLIN: What causes it?
It's not something that we're eating. It's not something in the drinking water. I mean you have -- you have Internet freaks.
KING: Yes.
SHEINDLIN: You have school teachers...
KING: Access.
SHEINDLIN: Yes. School teachers having sex with their students, right?
KING: Yes.
SHEINDLIN: Men and women, 14-year-olds fathering children by school teachers, right, by their female school teachers?
KING: Yes.
SHEINDLIN: Bizarre. You know, you would really -- and how much of it is -- comes from the way we perceive sex and morality today?
And if you say listen, we want to go back to the way it was 50 years ago, they say what, are you crazy?
You know, there's a certain freedom -- free love, free thinking, free condoms, free birth control.
KING: It's free.
SHEINDLIN: It's free.
KING: We'll be right back with more of Judge Judy.
By the way, would you want Judge Judy to preside over your court case?
That's tonight's quick vote. Head to our Web site -- CNN.com/larryking -- and vote.
We'll be back with her honor right after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "JUDGE JUDY," COURTESY CBS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I was there for her.
SHEINDLIN: Don't speak. Don't speak.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I was there for her...
SHEINDLIN: Zip it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I don't think so. When I was there before...
SHEINDLIN: Zip it. Mind your own business -- MYOB.
Are you frightened here today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, ma'am.
SHEINDLIN: Are you a little nervous?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, ma'am.
SHEINDLIN: I'm going to change that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "JUDGE JUDY," COURTESY CBS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION)
SHEINDLIN: In case somebody has to reach you at your business when you're out with your child, how do they do that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My cell phone.
SHEINDLIN: Which works?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which I didn't have.
SHEINDLIN: I don't believe that. You don't walk out of the house in eight degree weather and get in a car without your cell phone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your honor, I didn't even have a bra on.
SHEINDLIN: I don't care whether you had your bra. You may go out without a bra, but nobody goes out without their cell phone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with Judge Judy.
On this whole sexual question -- schools and abstinence apparently failing as a teaching model, condoms distributed. You were telling me that birth control is being given out.
SHEINDLIN: Yes, a school -- I think it's in Maine -- is starting to distribute birth control pills to children as young as 11. And they don't need parental permission. As long as the parents have consented to them being treated by the school doctor or nurse, they can distribute the birth control pills if a child comes in and says I'm sexually active.
KING: Assuming the schools are not -- the school principals and teachers are not idiots, there has to be another side to this, which is they're facing a problem, right?
How do we deal with the problem?
SHEINDLIN: I don't think the way you deal with a problem -- you know, I said to somebody, let's say, Larry, one of your boys wants to play football. And you and your wife say, you know what, I like you with all of your teeth intact. I've seen the kids in school, they're much bigger than you are, I don't want you to play football. I'm not giving you permission to play football. But I'm taking you out Saturday and I'm going to outfit you with all of the equipment that you need so you can go to school with all of the equipment that you need to play football.
Why would you do that?
If you've already made a statement to an 11-year-old child or 12- year-old child -- listen, sex for you is ridiculous. You know, you want to play with your Barbie dolls, go upstairs and play with your Barbie dolls. You want me to take you to a Broadway show that has a little bit of romance in it, I'll do that. But let's you and I not talk about sex when you're 11 or 12, other than to say it's something you don't do -- period -- when you're 11 or 12.
There are pressures. You know, the just say -- you know Nancy Reagan and just say no?
KING: Um-hmm.
SHEINDLIN: You've got to just say no to having sex when you're an 11- and a 12-year-old child.
Anything does -- is that crazy?
I don't get it.
KING: I don't know...
SHEINDLIN: I don't get a school system giving almost an imprimatur to children of that age to do it.
KING: What about the spate of school shootings -- and not occurring in urban areas?
SHEINDLIN: You mean in Europe?
KING: No, no. The shootings in the United States.
SHEINDLIN: Oh...
KING: But they occur in Colorado...
SHEINDLIN: Colorado.
KING: They don't occur in Harlem.
SHEINDLIN: Listen, mental illness is not -- is not only in our major cities. Kids who have mental illness and who have such anger and violence and rage...
KING: Finland.
SHEINDLIN: Finland -- rage within them. Finland -- the kid killed, what, eight people?
KING: Yes, but he was exchanging e-mails with someone in Philadelphia.
SHEINDLIN: Who was talking about Columbine...
KING: Yes.
SHEINDLIN: ...on the Internet. Well, that's a big problem. You know, the Internet is a big problem.
KING: Why?
SHEINDLIN: Because it was supposed to be a wonderful tool and it is a wonderful tool. But it is, you know, whenever there are nuts, nuts are going to sink to the lowest possible level that they can. And the Internet gives them the opportunity to seek out disturbed people and to seek out young people who are vulnerable and to seek out young people who are needy and to seek out young people who are angry and who don't have another outlet.
And nobody is there to monitor this, you know?
And there are all kinds of overlays to that. People sit on their computers. I was driving over here tonight with my publicist, Gary Rosen. He's sitting in front of the car. My husband and I were sitting in the back of the car. And the entire ride over he's texting somebody, making this God awful noise. It sounds like an SOS on his machine. And he said -- and the words he used were, "I couldn't live without this." I couldn't live without my cell phone. I couldn't live without somebody not finding me for two hours. I've never turned on a computer. Never.
You've never turned on a computer, right?
KING: No.
SHEINDLIN: And you told me Oprah has never turned on a computer.
KING: Oprah doesn't have a cell phone.
SHEINDLIN: Right. So you see, there are people who manage to be successful without being able to text and visit the entire universe, you know, within a second.
KING: Has the Internet come up in trials in your court yet?
SHEINDLIN: Yes. I refer to it as the machine. Fortunately, when it comes up in my courtroom, people really want to know who's going to pay for it or who's going to pay the credit card coming off on it. I don't have to get into the technical aspects of it. When I do, I usually lean over to Bird, who is younger than I am and more adept. I think it has to do with two things -- age: what we grow up with. B, there's a certain fear of using it, you know, of getting involved with it so...
KING: Yes.
SHEINDLIN: And, third, I think there are certain people who really enjoy interpersonal communication. I like to hear somebody on the phone.
KING: Yes. I like to feel a newspaper.
SHEINDLIN: Right. You like to feel a newspaper. I think that some of the most devastating arguments have occurred because -- and I've seen it in my own family -- because you'll be discussing something with somebody on the Internet and say something and want to retaliate and retaliate harshly, and press that button "send" and it's out there forever, whereas if you're talking to somebody on the phone and you get a sense that you may have hit a nerve, you can back off.
KING: Yes.
We'll be right back with Judge Judy on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE.
Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "JUDGE JUDY," COURTESY CBS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, sorry. I don't speak fast. I'm not a very...
SHEINDLIN: Get used to it, sir. I have other things to do today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry.
SHEINDLIN: This is not exactly the "Scopes" trial.
What is this?
Could you tell me what this is?
I don't understand what this is.
Does that make it true?
-- who thinks they're going to get over on me.
What is this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well...
SHEINDLIN: They didn't have their Wheaties this morning.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "JUDGE JUDY," COURTESY CBS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION)
SHEINDLIN: What do you do for a living, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a tattoo artist.
SHEINDLIN: You work for yourself?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't have -- I'm not working at a shop right now.
SHEINDLIN: So where do you work from?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Out of my house.
SHEINDLIN: Do you have to be licensed where you live?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
SHEINDLIN: Where do you live?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I live in California.
SHEINDLIN: And in California you don't need a license to give somebody a tattoo with a needle?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you don't.
SHEINDLIN: You make a living at this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
SHEINDLIN: Well, especially since you have no overhead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's that? No what?
SHEINDLIN: Overhead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Overhead?
Oh, OK. Yes, that was over my head. Sorry.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That was funny.
Our guest is Judge Judy.
Kanye West's mother, 58-year-old Donda, died after plastic surgery.
If she had pre-warning that there was some medical condition, does that eliminate a lawsuit?
SHEINDLIN: If she knew that by having she were putting her...
KING: If she were told, yes.
SHEINDLIN: If she were putting herself at risk?
KING: Yes.
SHEINDLIN: I don't think so.
KING: You can still sue?
SHEINDLIN: Oh, I think so, depending upon what the neg -- if there was negligence. You know, sometimes things just happen and there is no negligence. I certainly -- if I were a doctor and if I knew that a patient was susceptible to, whatever -- stroke or whatever by -- and the surgery was elective, I wouldn't do it.
Would you?
KING: No.
Wouldn't do it, right?
SHEINDLIN: Would not do it. Right.
KING: If there were any possibility of danger?
SHEINDLIN: Well, if you knew that the patient was susceptible to stroke or a heart attack or heart failure or an aneurysm and they -- she said, listen, I want my breasts enlarged and I'm 60-years-old. I would say really -- get used to what you have, you know?
Go find somebody else to do this procedure. I'm not doing it. So I think that you have a responsibility as a medical person not to perform surgery that's dangerous.
KING: You and your daughter Nicole are spearheading a Her Honor mentoring program for young women.
What does it -- what does it do?
SHEINDLIN: Well, you know what mentoring programs usually do. And this one is -- has a couple of little twists. It started because Nicole was -- is interested in women's issues. She's a lawyer.
KING: How old is she?
SHEINDLIN: She's a lawyer. She -- well, I don't think she would mind me telling you. She's 39, just celebrated her birthday. And she was home with her third child -- baby, took some leave, time from her job. And she said to me she would like to do something with young women -- young women who ordinarily would not have the opportunity to be paired with somebody in a very, very successful position in the community.
So I said, fine. The only thing that I think about mentoring programs, as wonderful as they are, they're usually missing a component that I think is important. And that is I like women to get paid for their work. I think women have been giving it away for free for far too long and underpaid for far too long. That's changing. But I like women to be paid for what they do. I like women to learn what -- young women to learn what to do when they get a paycheck -- you save some, you invest some, you use some to buy nice clothes.
The one thing that you don't do with a paycheck is give it to some dude that you just met in a bar yesterday. You don't give him your credit card. You don't give him a car that you bought on time. You don't cosign for his lease. You don't do dumb things.
So I want these women to have -- young women. And they are young women -- juniors and seniors in high school -- to have some sense of what to do with money so that we're funding that part of the mentoring program. And Nicole has worked very hard. We've put together a very successful program in the community where she lives with young women who, most of whom will be first year of college in their family -- in their families. And so it's very gratifying.
KING: What's your involvement?
SHEINDLIN: I use my name. I use my money. And I am there to support her.
KING: That's a great idea.
There are some programs, I am told, that pay parents for good parenting -- reward them for making sure their kids go to school and have checkups and the like.
What do you -- what's your thought on that?
SHEINDLIN: Well, I think it's ridiculous. I know that New York City just embarked upon such a program. It's not the first city that's used the carrot, as opposed to the stick, in trying to get people to behave the way they should. I've always believed, Larry, that, you know, you may give a child an extra quarter as an allowance if they make their bed. Or if they do something else that's particularly wonderful, you may reward them. But once you get to be a parent, you're not supposed to be susceptible to having a carrot to make sure your kid gets to school or gets a medical checkup. You're supposed to do it. That's your job.
And to pay people to be good parents, to me, is the -- is demeaning. It's so demeaning. I would -- if somebody said to me listen, you get -- your child gets to school all the time unless your child is sick, we're going to give you an extra thousand dollars.
I'd say, what, are you crazy, you know?
It's wonderful that my child has a free public school education, that my child can go to a place where they're going to be educated and perhaps do better in life than I did.
Why in the world would you want to give me money to make sure my child gets to school?
I mean I've said -- and I've said it here -- I think you should lose money if you don't send your children to school. You don't get to just claim that child on your tax returns for a deduction. I think everybody's tax return should have a place where you have to put a certificate from the school of good attendance for any child that you want to claim as a deduction. If you don't have that certificate of attendance, you lose that, whatever it is -- $2,000 or $2,500. You lose that money.
And if you're collecting money from a government municipality for your child, if you're receiving some sort of an aid for that child, you already are not being a responsible parent by having to take aid from the state to take care of a child that you brought into the world. But we do that because we are a compassionate society. We give you aid for your children. But then you're staying home with your children. So you make sure that child gets to school. That's your job. I think it's demeaning.
KING: We'll be right back.
What does Judge Judy think of Britney Spears and the latest O.J. Simpson case?
We'll get the judge's rulings when we come back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "JUDGE JUDY," COURTESY CBS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION)
SHEINDLIN: That sounds a lot to me like you're covering your tracks, madam.
OK.
No, I'm not ready for you yet.
You have to use your strength and your girth wisely, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, ma'am.
SHEINDLIN: Not like an idiot.
I don't have five people that I want to speak to that often.
When I strain, I get lines on my face. When I get lines on my face, my producer doesn't like it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: OK, major story. K-Fed has temporary custody of two kids. What will happen? What do you think? Britney, what will happen?
SHEINDLIN: Do you care?
KING: No, but -- the degree of the public cares.
SHEINDLIN: They just - I think the public would really like to see these two children, the public that is, goodwill public, would like to see to it and like to feel that these two beautiful little boys finally, finally find a place to land.
And right, you know, we talked about this. You need a license to give a manicure and pedicure and license to give a tattoo and a license to give somebody a haircut. But a license to have children, you don't need and as long as people are having children with impunity, for all of the wrong reasons, you're going to have children neglected.
Britney Spears isn't the first. Kevin Federline is not the first. They will not be the last. Unfortunately, they are hammering out this dispute in a very public place.
KING: Do you think she can attain parenting skills?
SHEINDLIN: Absolutely, absolutely. She just has to, you know, she just has to come to terms with the fact that she made these two children and if she wants to pursue the kind of lifestyle that she's been pursuing, which is fun, and parties and shopping and being out all night and whatever drugs or alcohol or anything else that you may be involved with, let somebody else raise your children. And if it's not the father, because he's incapable of doing it, maybe her mother is capable of doing it. Maybe she has a sister who is capable of doing it. But the children are entitled to have a home.
KING: We have an e-mail question from Edith in Los Angeles: "You often refer to your kids. How did you manage to raise them so well when both you and your husband have full-time careers? And, P.S. you're my role model."
SHEINDLIN: Oh, thank you. How did we manage? I don't know. I think we worked hard. We had a lot of luck because I think along with trying to do the right thing, you need a lot of luck. We were not celebrities, although we were celebrities in our own mind. We were really not celebrities at that time. We were in court. I was in family court. My husband in the Supreme Court. Our kids saw our parents working hard, getting up, going to work, coming home tired and dirty and sometimes with a headache.
We devoted our weekends to them. They were our weekends. When we weren't working, we devoted our time to them. They all grew up nice children. Adam, by the way, won his race for district attorney in Putnam County. We talked about that. That was last Tuesday.
KING: Yep.
SHEINDLIN: And the kids all prosper. I think one of the things they didn't have -- and I'm not so sure about my grandchildren, we didn't have a lot of excess. You know, we had two civil servant salaries that were fine, but not when you're educating five children in college and professional schools. So there wasn't a lot of extra around. The grandchildren now have that extra stuff, you know. They have camp. I don't want to go to camp. My children beg to go to camp. The grandchildren now say, first they say, yes, we will go to camp. And then they say, I don't want to go to camp. Maybe we will go someplace else. Maybe we will go on a teen tour. Maybe we will go to Europe this summer. Things that our children didn't have. You keep your fingers cross.
KING: Let's take a call. New Albany, Indiana, hello.
CALLER: Hi. Hi, Judge Judy.
SHEINDLIN: Hi.
CALLER: When you call people who are standing before you, especially ones that have their small children with them as witnesses, and you have called the parents "stupid, moron, dumb," don't you think that's showing disrespect for our judicial system? SHEINDLIN: I absolutely do not. I think the reason that people -- first of all, I very rarely, if ever, will refer to a parent who is before me in any demeaning way with a young child there. I usually have given them the option of having the children to wait outside. Some of the parents say, no, I want my children right here.
When people watch my program, what they are seeing is my natural reaction to somebody's behavior. That's why this program remains viable after 12 years. There are no scripts, there are no writers.
And most of the time the people in the community agree with what I'm saying. You know, when I had a woman last week, when I taped my program and did a case, when she told her 6-year-old child, that the father, whom she had known since birth, who she was not married to, might not be her biological father, and the reasons for telling her child this was I believe in telling my children the truth.
I said, she's six. You're a moron. She was a moron. Everybody who saw that program will say the woman is a moron. If I don't say it, people aren't going to watch it. Now, would I say it if I were sitting in a courtroom in the family court? Sometimes I did. Sometimes I was a little more reticent. But people have to know, and they keep on watching.
KING: What do you make of O.J. back in the courtroom? Have you followed this procedure? What is this procedure they are doing now? This is to determine whether to indict?
SHEINDLIN: He was arrested and now they are taking testimony. Every state has their own system.
KING: He's been charged.
SHEINDLIN: I think he's been charged. He's been charged. He was arraigned and he was released and now they are taking testimony and preliminary hearings. What they are doing is probably putting a piece of fire, a little bit. What do I think? I don't know. But there's always a possibility. You know how ridiculous it was the last verdict. Maybe this one will be just as ridiculous.
KING: Do you think he might be someone who follows trouble around?
SHEINDLIN: I think he's a sociopath. That's just my opinion. I mean, I'm not an expert but it just seems to me, if he had absolutely no concept of -- of right and wrong and where he fits into society and that he has to follow certain rules, I just think that he plays the game his own way.
KING: We assume that great athletes aren't that way, though, right? Of course, we put them on -- the great athlete is on a pedestal in this country.
SHEINDLIN: Well, they have been historically. I don't think that's necessarily true anymore. I think so many of the great athletes have turned out to have a clay foot or at least a toe that we have come to terms with the fact they are just human beings. We have great athletes, what we perceive as great athletes having domestic problems at home, having violent episodes with their wives or girlfriends, not being able to kick a drug habit. People are -- you know. So today --
KING: Different world.
SHEINDLIN: Different world.
KING: We will be back with more of Judge Judy on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE right after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHEINDLIN: Nothing you did in two weeks, in the time you spent with the plaintiff was worth 10 grand. Nothing. Pay your bills!
UNIDENTIIFED FEMALE: I'm a little --
SHEINDLIN: You tell me. Do we understand each other, Mr. Cook?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHEINDLIN: What do you do for a living?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now, I'm baby sitting for a living.
SHEINDLIN: You're what?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm staying with a woman. I'm watching her kids just about all the time.
SHEINDLIN: Why don't you work?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was working and I had an allergic reaction.
SHEINDLIN: An allergic reaction to what, working?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Oh, you're tough. Judge Judy is our guest. We have another e-mail question from Dennis in Indianapolis: "Is there any type of case you're sick of having come before your court?"
SHEINDLIN: Yes, but I think -- but they are the kinds of cases that keep us in business, Larry. I would like to see more men co- signing for women on their credit cards, more men co-signing for car loans for women, more men getting stuck on a lease. It's always the women --
KING: Really, a woman?
SHEINDIN: Yes, it's always the women. And it's most of the time women who are desperate to nest and are willing to take any shlameel who comes along and has a heartbeat and they say, well, you know, maybe we can make something out of them.
KING: Have you changed over your 12 seasons on the court?
SHEINDLIN: I think so. I think so. I think if -- if you're alive, you develop -- every year you develop a little more wisdom. I think you develop a little more wisdom.
KING: You like to grow.
SHEINDLIN: Like to grow.
KING: Let take a call from Monrovia, California. Hello.
CALLER: Hello, I have a quick question.
KING: Sure.
CALLER: Thank you for taking my call. I won a judgment in small claims court, and I went -- he refused to pay me verbally, when I approached him verbally. So I filed a writ of execution and that came back nonsufficient funds. And I'm unsure as to how to proceed to get my money.
SHEINDLIN: Well, I believe there are marshals -- every jurisdiction is different, but I believe that there are marshals for a fee that can help you find assets. You know, you may have to give up 10 percent or 20 percent of whatever judgment it is, but there are people who make a living out of being able to collect money from judgment debtors.
KING: An e-mail question from Kali in Oleon, New York: "Honorable Judy Judge, where would you say you get your temper from? When you let loose on a litigant, is it for real or for show?"
SHEINDLIN: It comes from my soul, you know.
KING: Your anger is there.
SHEINDLIN: I get, you know -- people's stupidity makes me angry. It does, because when they visit that stupidity on usually somebody who is innocent, you're negatively impacting somebody's life and you don't have a just position.
Like the woman I talked about moments ago who told her 6-year- old, I don't know why, she said she wanted a catharsis that day. This may not be your daddy. As it turned out the man took a paternity test and he was her father. But he put this little 6-year-old child, this mother put this little 6-year-old child in a position of questioning, probably forever, at least being miserable and depressed. I mean, I can't even imagine somebody being so stupid. Does that make me angry? Yes, it makes me angry. KING: Judge Judy is our guest. Anderson Cooper graces his presence here in southern California with us tonight. What's ahead on "A.C. 360," Anderson?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Larry, a lot coming up at the top of the hour. The question is, has Hillary Clinton been knocked down a few pegs? It's what some are saying after a weekend spent in Iowa. A lot of the credit right now seems to be going to Barack Obama, who by all accounts has found some new campaign mojo. His team would have you believe this is the beginning of a major shift in the race. We will get to the bottom of that with former presidential advisor David Gergen as well as Roland Martin.
Also tonight Donda West, the mother of hip-hop star Kanye West, died over the weekend. Tonight, how she died is a mystery, still, but signs are pointing to complications from a cosmetic procedure. We're going to look into that and investigate what some call the hidden dangers of cosmetic surgery. All of that and more, Larry, at the top of the hour.
KING: That's Anderson Cooper at 10:00 Eastern, 7 Pacific right at the time of the hour. We will be right back with more of Judge Judy. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHEINDLIN: Outrageous. Your conduct, sir, was outrageous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My conduct was to protect my child, myself and my daughter.
SHEINDLIN: I want to tell you something, sir. I don't believe you. Your wife may believe you. Your mother may believe you. I don't believe you. It doesn't make sense. And if it doesn't make sense -- if it doesn't make sense, it's not true. And if the police believe them, they are stupid, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Have you ever felt threatened, either on your show or in family court in New York?
SHEINDLIN: Yes. Not on the show. You know, you are pretty well insulated and protected on the program. And for some reason, people, although they will get very hot when they go outside the courtroom and lose it, when they are in front of me, they maintain control.
I think that they honestly believe that if I turn on them, they can -- I can put them in jail or do worse. So I think that they maintain their composure. I think that the issues are also far less life-threatening than the issues that I face in the family court.
So that there was -- when you're deciding issues of custody, when you're deciding to terminate someone's parental rights because they either abused or neglected or been to jail or whatever, when they go to jail. They go to jail for 25 years to life for killing a child's mother and then they cry like babies when you terminate their parental rights to their children so that they are free to be adopted by somebody else. You know, they need a family but somebody like that will threaten you. I, you know, it comes with the job.
KING: What are you thoughts on Hillary?
SHEINDLIN: Oh, I think she's a bright lady who I think has done a spectacular job as senator from New York. And I was really not a Hillary supporter when she ran initially for Senate because I said, you know, she's not from New York. But I think she's done a terrific job. I think she's got great carriage. I think she's a terrific lady.
I don't know if she has what it takes to be president. I don't think she comes with a lot of -- what I consider baggage, both good and bad. So I'm not sure. But I think that she's - I think that she's a spectacular dame, really a spectacular dame.
KING: Other major countries of importance have had females at the head. Do you think we are ready?
SHEINDLIN: Oh, I think we are ready. I think we are ready. I think we are ready for anybody with a fresh, wonderful face. And a face that can say to the world this is a turning of the corner of America.
Perhaps we might have been a little arrogant. Perhaps that's at least the impression that was given to the rest of the world. We understand we are part of the world community. We may be a great leader but we're still part of the world community. We can't go off marching on their own and expect everybody else to. I think the United States of America needs a kind of new, wonderful, new face. Whether Hillary is that face or Barack Obama is that face, I don't know.
KING: As a New York judge, you had a chance to witness Rudy Giuliani firsthand. What do you make of his --
SHEINDLIN: I think Rudy Giuliani was a very fine mayor. I think that he had a -- his mayoralty had a crescendo when he was mayor during 9/11, and he managed the city with tremendous grace and strength.
You know, but -- but for 9/11, there would be mixed reviews on Rudy Giuliani. There were people who thought he was terrific and people who were really Rudy detractors. But I think that overall Rudy ran the city very well. Whether that prepares him to run the country? I don't know.
KING: We have an e-mail from Stephen in Keller, Texas: "Judge Judy, any chance we could talk you into running for president, maybe as an independent or for the plain common sense party?"
SHEINDLIN: No, not interested in national politics. I have given 25 years to public service in a job that I really loved. For a lot of reasons, ruling by committee was never my thing.
KING: If nominated, she will not accept? If elected, she will not serve?
SHEINDLIN: Yes.
KING: That's about as definitive as you can get. We'll be back with our remaining moments. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back with Judge Judy. We have a call from Barrie, Ontario. Hello.
CALLER: Hello. I'm in a wheelchair and I have been trying to get employable in Ontario. I was wondering where Judge Judy stood on disability laws?
SHEINDLIN: How can you stand anywhere but in favor of laws that allow people who have handicaps and disabilities to seek employment and to find employment that they can do.
KING: Don't we have strong such laws in this country now?
SHEINDLIN: We do.
KING: What about Canada?
SHEINDLIN: We have laws here that make buildings of a certain age --
KING: Ramps.
SHEINDLIN: Access, able for the handicap. We have laws that preclude you from firing somebody if they can do their job, because they suffer from disability. I mean, it's a shame when you have people who have talent, and just because they are in a wheelchair and their talent does not require them -- they are not going out for "Dancing with the Stars."
They want to do something. They want to work with computers. They want to work in medical science and do something they want to do and use their brains and their hands if they have use of their hands.
For anybody, for any governmental institution to say to them that you are precluded from doing that and we are not going to enforce the laws that prevent discrimination is the most ridiculous waste of human man power. Just ridiculous, so I hope that answers your question.
KING: Life is good, Judge Judy. How much longer are you going to keep it up?
SHEINDLIN: Well, I'm signed on until 2010. And then we'll see.
KING: What was India like? SHEINDLIN: India was very poor.
KING: You went with our friend Cindy Adams.
SHEINDLIN: We did. And traveling with Cindy is like traveling with a whole circus. She is a unique person, truly one of a kind in a world.
KING: We only have 30 seconds. What was India like?
SHEINDLIN: India was poor, depressing to see the amount of poverty. But also amazing to see what people were able to do 500 and 600 years ago and the structures they were able to erect with sheer will and no more than a spoon or a chisel and hammer. The Taj Mahal is truly a wonder in the world and the Fort Agra is truly a wonder. So it was that -- when you're -- that juxtaposition that's said, you have to go there in order to see it, but you also see that there's a whole other world.
KING: Thank you, doll.
SHEINDLIN: Thank you. Good to see you, always.
KING: Judge Judy, one of our favorite people. Check out our Web site, CNN.com/LarryKing. You can download our current podcast, Dog the Bounty Hunter. We also got a special Judge Judy quick vote. Or, you can e-mail upcoming guests. It's all at CNN.com/LarryKing. Tomorrow night, actress Hunter Tylo on the tragic drowning of her son.
Before we hand it off to "A.C. 360," we want to extend our sincere condolences to hip hop superstar Kanye West. His beloved mother Donda died this weekend. She was just 58. Donda, who raised Kanye alone, was a major influence on her son. A long time educator, she retired as chairwoman of the English department at Chicago State University to help manage his skyrocketing career. Our sympathies to Kanye and to all who knew and admired Dr. Donda West, a powerful inspiration as you can hear in her son's 2005 song "Hey Mama."
Anderson Cooper is here and he starts right now with "A.C. 360." Anderson?
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