Judge Judy Sheindlin, 83, is defending her vision of America with blunt force, telling critics of the country to leave it.
The television juror issued the ultimatum during an interview pegged to a CBS primetime special marking the 30th anniversary of her courtroom franchise. “I have a house, and I have a home. I consider America my home. America has been good to me. I think that it’s the greatest country in the world,” she said.
“If you don’t like this country, go somewhere else,” she continued. “Don’t come to the greatest country in the world, the most successful country in the world, and say, ‘I want to change it.’ There are other countries that are the something else that you want. Go there. Go there. But don’t come into my home and say, ‘I want to change it.'”
Sheindlin framed her defense around capitalism and national identity. “We are a capitalist country that revered excellence, that revered entrepreneurship, that revered all the things that made us great,” she added. “Whether you like it or not, it’s there.”
The “Judge Judy: Unfiltered, Unforgettable” special arrives as Sheindlin’s current series, “Judy Justice,” prepares to wrap in October. The original “Judge Judy” ran for 25 seasons from 1996 to 2021, making her one of the most recognizable legal figures in American television history.
Sheindlin pointed to a cultural hunger for the perceived stability of the 1950s. “I think in the middle of this country, there are more people who long for the 1950s than long for the 2030s,” she said. “They long for a time when people respected each other.”
The former family court judge painted a grim portrait of contemporary divisions. “You can’t pick up a paper without seeing violence and hate speech and antisemitism and racism and cruelty and beheadings,” she continued. “People can’t even get together with their families anymore, because you have one section of the family that is more liberal, one is more conservative. They can’t even talk to each other with civility.”
Sheindlin has long maintained that her shows endure because they satisfy a craving for structure. She recently told W Magazine that viewers remain frustrated in ways unchanged across three decades. “They like rules, law, order, and personal responsibility,” she said.
“They like their neighbors to be nice and quiet, to keep their cats on their own property,” she added. “There are reasons for bad behavior, but there are never excuses for bad behavior if it affects someone else.”
Her son, Judge Adam Levy, has taken up the family trade with his own series, “Adam’s Law,” on which Sheindlin serves as producer. Sheindlin has indicated she will continue working behind the camera after stepping away from on-screen duties.
The CBS anniversary special celebrated a format that turned a Brooklyn-born former judge into a daytime institution, with her sharp tongue and no-nonsense rulings defining courtroom television for multiple generations.