Judge Sirica: The First Test

As much as any man, Judge John J. Sirica, 69, is responsible for what the nation is learning about Watergate. It was he who presided over the trial of the Watergate Seven and, by delaying sentencing, persuaded James McCord to break ranks with his fellow convicted burglars and talk in hopes of a lesser jail term. Watergate has been unraveling in full view ever since. Fittingly, it has fallen to Judge Sirica to referee this week the first full round in the battle for the White House tapes, now under subpoena by both the Senate Watergate committee and Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. It may be among Sirica's last major decisions as a district-court judge; on his 70th birthday next March, he must decide between retirement and stepping down to senior-judge status.

During the Watergate Seven trial, Sirica won a reputation as the feisty judge who asked the questions that the prosecutors would not touch. But to courthouse regulars, he has long been known as "Maximum John" for his tough sentences.

The son of an immigrant Italian barber, Sirica entered Georgetown Law School straight from high school and financed his schooling by working as an athletics instructor for the Knights of Columbus and as an occasional exhibition boxer. As a semipro pugilist, he became a friend of Jack Dempsey's and accompanied the Manassa Mauler on bond drives across the U.S. during World War II.

A lifelong Republican, Sirica served as a regular speechmaker for the Republican National Committee, crossing the country delivering hundreds of campaign addresses in behalf of Alf Landon in 1936 and Wendell Willkie in 1940. During the '40s, he served for a time as counsel to a congressional investigation of the Federal Communications Commission but quit after charging that White House pressure on Democratic Congressmen was turning the investigation into a charade.

Sirica's partisan politicking came to an end in 1957 when President Dwight Eisenhower appointed him to the federal bench. By virtue of seniority, he became chief judge for the D.C. district court two years ago. In that position, he could have assigned the Watergate trial to one of 14 other fellow district judges. Instead, Sirica appointed himself to preside over the case.

As Watergate judge, Sirica seemed determined to demonstrate that even though he was a Republican he would not be a party to any whitewash at the trial. He often ignored the niceties of courtroom protocol, interrupting prosecutor and defense counsel alike to question a witness or nail down a fact.

At one point, Defendant G. Gordon Liddy's lawyer, Peter Maroulis, stood to offer an objection, but Liddy waved him down and whispered in his ear. Said Sirica sarcastically: "I see you're getting some good legal advice from your client, the former attorney." Maroulis again bounded to his feet at this implication that Liddy had already been disbarred. Sirica dismissed him brusquely: "All right, he's still a lawyer admitted to the bar, I'll grant you. Now let's get on with it."

A bachelor until he was 47, Sirica now has three children (aged ten to 20) and with his wife Lucile leads a quiet life in a fashionable Northwest Washington neighborhood. "I had two loves in life," he says, recalling the words of an old law-school professor, "but Prohibition took care of one of them, and old age took care of the other."

Sirica rises at 5 each morning to begin his voracious consumption of newspapers and magazines, concentrating primarily on the opinion pages. After his morning's work in court, he has lunch in his office, then naps for an hour. Bothered recently by a pinched back nerve, Sirica tries to keep fit by walking three or four miles a day and when not detained by a court case, leaves early in the afternoon for a sauna at the Congressional Country Club.

Since the Watergate trial, Sirica has been quietly relishing his new prominence on the Washington banquet circuit and the approval shown in a flood of speaking invitations. Though some of his critics have accused him of judicial overreach, most concede that his honesty and independence have been established beyond doubt. "My slogan is: do what you think is right at the moment," Sirica observes. "It usually works out."

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