Anyone who has owned a television since the nineties knows who Judith Susan Sheindlin is. What you may not know or remember was that an Idaho college student once wore the famous gavel pounder's robe for an episode of Judge Judy back in 2019.

Judge Judy has been on television since 1996. This just happened to be the very year I began working in radio broadcasting. It would take me another nine years to finally graduate college with a degree in Journalism because balancing my new career with my studies was tricky.

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My father was a huge fan of the show. He took great enjoyment in watching her cut down and humiliate the poor souls that entered her courtroom. In recent years, she's gotten a bit nicer, but I remember in the early seasons of the show she was pretty damn ruthless. In 2026, the show will celebrate 30 years on television if it continues to get renewed.

Until recently, I never knew that a University of Idaho student submitted a tape to producers of the show and was invited to run the courtroom for an episode. The student, whose name is Nicole Skinner, is a graduate and former Arts & Social Sciences student president. She not only met Judith Sheindlin but got to sit in her chair and work her gavel for a show's taping.

The university congratulated her on its official Facebook page in 2019. I'm not sure what ever became of Skinner, but I'm certain she's making the most of her college degree.

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