DEUT25 In Maimonides's Book of the Commandments, he writes, "By this prohibition a judge is forbidden to be deterred by fear of a vicious and wicked evildoer from giving a just judgment against him. It is his duty to render judgment without any thought of the injury the evildoer may cause him" (Negative Commandment number 276). This is, of course, a courageous and difficult standard to live by, but one who cannot do so has no right to become a judge.