Defense attorneys at the raucous trial of the Chicago Eight are doing their best to show that U.S. District Judge Julius Hoffman is biased. The little jurist often seems determined to prove them right. Before the jury, he has praised U.S. Attorney Thomas Foran as one of the finest prosecutors in the country. On the other hand, he badgers and belittles lawyers for the eight men who are charged with conspiracy to foment a riot at last year's Democratic Convention in Chicago.
The 74-year-old judge unquestionably has been provoked. Last week, for example, the defendants draped a large Viet Cong flag over the counsel table after Hoffman denied them a day off to participate in the nationwide peace demonstrations. Foran denounced Attorney William Kunstler for supporting the defendants' efforts to bring the Moratorium into the courtroom. After an angry exchange, Foran growled: "I have contempt for Mr. Kunstler." The judge rebuked only Kunstler. As the dominant figure in the courtroom, a judge can easily influence the jury if his likes and dislikes are too obvious. If convicted, the Chicago Eight are likely to argue on appeal that they were unable to get a fair trial because of Hoffman's attitude.
Quoted in Jerusalem. As might be expected, Hoffman bristles at criticism of his handling of the trial. "I don't want to be glorified," he told TIME Reporter James Simon in an interview, "but I don't want to be vilified either." To prove that the press attacks are undeserved, he produced a thick file of testimonials; he read from a speech by one federal judge who praised him as "warm at heart and a gentleman of character." Another judge interprets Hoffman's self-advertisements as "a search for reassurance." He says: "I think that underneath Judge Hoffman's appearance there is a deep concern and striving to be worthy of the power he possesses."
The son of a furrier, Julius Jennings Hoffman grew up in Chicago, graduated from Northwestern University Law School and went into corporate practice. At 33, he married Eleanor H. Greenebaum, whose family controlled what became the Brunswick Corp., which makes bowling alleys and other products. He served as the company's counsel until he was elected a state circuit-court judge in 1947. A generous supporter of the Republican Party, he became the first Jew on the federal bench in the Northern Illinois district when President Eisenhower appointed him in 1953.
Illinois lawyers respect Hoffman for legal knowledge and craftsmanship. Last year he upheld the Government's first suit to desegregate a Northern school district. In his decision, which involved the Chicago suburb of South Holland,
Hoffman eloquently described desegregation as "a very small down payment on an investment whose dividends are good citizenship, justice and the welfare of the nation." The judge proudly notes that his words were quoted "around the world—even in the English language newspaper in Jerusalem."