Reply To: Jewish Judges on Secular Court

In addition to the example provided in the OP, the judge would have to recuse himself from all cases with even one Jewish litigant. Since he cannot rule against a Jewish litigant opposed by a gentile litigant if halacha favors the Jewish litigant while secular law favors the gentile litigant. And he presumably wouldn’t even know who the law favors (either secular law or Jewish law) unless he heard the case and all its details. So he would have to recuse himself from all cases involving any Jewish parties before hearing it, as it would be impractical to take the case – hear it in court as judge – and then recuse himself in middle of the case.

What excuse is there for the cases that have a Jewish judge and a Jewish party in the case?

And that is all in civil cases. This issue is even more pronounced for a Jewish criminal court judge who must pronounce sentence on accused Jews, with laws, rules of evidence, and punishments far different in secular law than in Jewish law. He has no right to jail or penalize a Jew with a penalty unwarranted under halacha.