by Jess McCuan    .    photo by Brent Fleury

Athena Brooks has always played by the rules. Even as a little girl, she made sure everyone else did, too. “My mother would probably tell you I was bossy,” says the 42-year-old, who claims she knew she wanted to be an attorney at age four. Growing up in Weaverville, she watched Perry Mason on TV and, later, police and detective shows like Kojak and The Rockford Files. By the time she got to law school at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1988, about half of her law school class was female, but few of those women were as interested as she was in criminal justice. “You deal with some slugs and thugs, some unhappy people,” says Brooks, who landed a job as assistant district attorney in Buncombe County right after law school in 1991.

The former cheerleader was elected Henderson County District Court Judge in 2004. And for an accurate depiction of what that’s like, all you have to do is watch Night Court, she says. “You really do hear stories like that,” she says. Brooks was re-elected to the district court in 2008 and appointed Chief District Court Judge in January this year. One longtime court bailiff, Sgt. Terry Whitmire, says people know that if Judge Brooks starts the day with her curly red hair tied up but takes it down after lunch, you know it’s going to be a long afternoon.

In late May, President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor, an appeals court judge from New York, to be a Supreme Court justice. If confirmed, Sotomayor, who grew up in the Bronx and whose family is Puerto Rican, would be only the third female in history to serve on the Supreme Court. VERVE sat down with Judge Brooks to talk Supreme Court politics, and to get a glimpse into the life of a female judge.

What are some misconceptions about what it’s like to be a judge?  Judges have to follow the law. A lot of times, that puts you at odds with what either the public wants or the concept of, “Oh, that’s not what should happen here.” But the law says that’s what should happen. On TV, it’s like if someone commits a horrible crime—and we all know they did it—but you just can’t prove it. That’s what I mean. There’s what everybody knows, but then you have to follow the law. And sometimes that makes you unhappy.

Have there been any cases that really surprised you? It’s almost like there’s one every day. It’s not the big ugly ones [that are surprising], it’s the silly little ones. It’s like, well, “I was standing there, judge, and they gave me something to hold, and then the police car drove by.” Lo and behold, it’s stolen goods.

Some of them are horrible cases that just break your heart. A lot of those are the child custody cases. The parents are so angry with each other, they argue instead of worrying about the children. Those probably bother me the most as a judge. You just want to shake the parents and try to get them to understand that you may hate each other but there are still little guys here that need you.

Do you feel you have different sympathies as a female judge? I have seen some female judges who think differently than some male judges. I’m not sure that I do as much as some others because my life has been so much not “boy/girl” separated. That’s because I was able to come through [law school] after the equal rights fight. When I came through, it was more like, you’re a girl. Big whoopee. Do your job.

When Sonia Sotomayor was nominated for the Supreme Court, people raked her over the coals for a quote that said essentially, “I would hope that I would make different judicial decisions than a white man.” Do you think they were right to do so? Thurgood Marshall might have said the same thing, and Clarence Thomas would have said something similar. My problem is that they’re going after her for the fact that she wears a skirt or she may be of a certain identifiable national origin—instead of saying hey, you made a really bad decision here. Or saying hey, she’s got great credentials. That’s what bothers me. Pick on somebody for their qualifications or their non-qualifications, as opposed to some comment she probably made four years ago (and probably wouldn’t want to make now).

Should there be more women on the Supreme Court? Yeah, I’d love to see more women… You’re dealing with the fact that by the time you’re able to be on the Supreme Court, you have to be 55 or 60. I hope that in the upcoming ten to 15 years, you’re going to see the result of the women around my age and younger having enough time in the world to be aged up and qualified.

What are some of the stickiest legal issues you deal with? Child custody, child abuse and the overwhelming fact that addiction—whether it be to alcohol or drugs—drives so much of the crime. It’s amazing. We need some better treatment programs, something to help people. The only thing we have now is that when people are addicted and keep committing crimes, we put them in prison.

Do you have any bits of wisdom to pass on to people who are interested in the law?  I would tell them that they need to go sit in court and watch. If nothing more than for a couple hours over a period of time so they can see different cases. See if they really want to hear and deal with what we deal with.

Which is what? People don’t come to see a lawyer because they’re happy. People don’t come to see a lawyer at a good place in their life. The only happy time you see a lawyer is at an adoption—or maybe buying a house. Other times, the lawyer is supposed to fix something.

As a judge, I always make a decision that makes one side happy, one side unhappy. It takes a unique type of personality to deal with getting cussed, getting fussed at, getting hated… I know a lot of people enter law school having ideas of either making a lot of money or [doing something that] looks like fun. Or you get to wear cool clothes—I honest to God heard that out of somebody’s mouth… I think that contributes to lawyers’ high rate of unhappiness. We have a horrible rate of unhappiness.

People become lawyers for various reasons. They come into it thinking it’s one thing and it’s not. If you talk to a lot of us who have done it a while, we can verbalize it. We don’t see happy people. Human nature is such that you want to tell people, “Yes, you can do that. Yes, I can help you.” And we tell people a lot, “No. No, you can’t have this. In fact, you go to jail.” It’s not a happy place. You have days where everybody cries and blows snot in the courtroom and you feel like crying on the bench. The lawyers feel like crying, and there’s no way to let that out.

Have you ever been afraid for your safety?  Oh yeah. I’ve had stalkers, and I’ve had people threaten to kill me in front of a jury.

How often would you say you feel uncomfortable?  Verbal threats like that, not that often. Feeling uncomfortable, that’s weekly or monthly. It’s second nature now for you to be aware of where you are. And be aware of your surroundings. When my stepson was in high school, he got very used to making U-turns in the grocery store… He wasn’t allowed to come to the courthouse until he graduated high school. I just didn’t want people to identify us.

What’s the best part about your job?  Sometimes you have the ability to make a decision and respond to whatever the ultimate problem is. Usually, it’s not really about somebody stepping a toe onto somebody else’s land. There’s something else going on. And there are times when you can do that. There are times, in [family] court, where you see that the parents needed help and you see they’ve got it—they’ve gone through the steps, they’re doing well and they’ve moved on. In some of the child custody cases, I’ve felt good about the result because I think it’s best for the child. The child has appeared very happy. I sometimes get letters. Still, it’s hard talking to a seven-year-old about who’s putting them to bed.

And what’s the worst part?  Worrying about whether a decision I make is going to cause somebody’s life to go to pieces. For example, if it weren’t for the decision I made, their life would have been fine, and now I’ve messed everything up. Amazingly enough, when you get elected judge, they don’t give you the wisdom of Solomon and the ability to make the right decisions all the time.