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Judges sometimes use political judgment, which considers factors outside the law, to make decisions. This can be based on the intent of the legislator or if enforcing certain rules would have negative effects. Legal judgments come from a direct interpretation of the law.
Courts consider many different things when they pass judgment in a particular case. While it is true that the letter of the law is what decides most cases, there are times when subjective factors come into play and the judge will be granted wide discretion in making his or her decision. Such a basis for a decision is called political judgment and is employed in a variety of circumstances. There is a clear difference between a political judgment and a legal judgment, but it is a fine line and is best illustrated through examples.
A political judgment is a basis for a legal decision that considers factors that are outside the direct interpretation of the law. Often, political judgments can be made on the basis of the purported intent of the legislator. For example, if there is a law prohibiting the removal of a particular plant from the ground due to fears that the plant is in danger, the letter of the law will likely state that any removal is a violation of the law. However, if a botanist who is collecting samples of the plant for use in a study with the goal of developing a method to protect the plant from the disease that is causing it to become endangered, then by policy a judge can dismiss the charge.
Another typical situation which would give rise to a political decision which plays a fundamental role in the final decision of a court is whether the application of certain rules would have objectively negative effects. This is common in contract disputes where a judge has the discretion to enforce certain clauses within a contract. For example, a non-compete agreement signed by an employee when he starts working with a company might be unenforceable because of a matter of policy. The judge will likely consider the geographic area to which the non-compete agreement belongs and how long the employee will have to wait to find similar work after termination of employment with the company to decide whether it is enforceable. If the terms of the settlement are particularly unfair, the judge may refuse to enforce it based on that political decision.
The difference between a political judgment and a legal judgment can be boiled down to the source of the rationale behind the decision. If the judgment comes from a direct interpretation of a law, then it is a legal judgment. For example, in the above example with the non-compete agreement, consider a different scenario where the jurisdiction where the agreement applies has a law prohibiting the non-compete agreement. If the court finds the agreement unenforceable based on that statute, it would constitute a legal judgment.
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