Judge McGruder
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Chief Judge Hilda Margaret McGruder is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd stories published in the British comic 2000 AD. She was the first female Chief Judge of Mega-City One, and the first Judge of Mega-City One to become Chief Judge twice (in 2104-2108 and 2112-2116). Her first names are a reversal of the first names of Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time the character was introduced to 2000 AD.
After the death of the insane Judge Cal, McGruder was appointed to eliminate corruption from the discredited Special Judicial Squad. She was head of the SJS from 2101 to 2104.
She led the resistance to the invading forces during the Apocalypse War after Chief Judge Griffin was killed and Judge Dredd was taken prisoner. As the only surviving member of the Council of Five after the war, she became chief judge by default. In her first term she established herself as one of the city's most able rulers as she set about rebuilding the war-torn city.
She resigned after four years in office following the Seven Samurai incident, blaming herself for a massacre she thought she could have prevented (although most of her colleagues were more forgiving and begged her to stay), and took the Long Walk into the Cursed Earth. (Her final act in office was to dismiss all of the senior judges who disagreed with her decision to resign!) She was succeeded as chief judge by Thomas Silver.
She returned to help Judge Dredd fight the Dark Judges in the Necropolis crisis. With Silver missing and presumed dead, she subsequently returned to the office of chief judge. This resulted in a constitutional crisis in the following year, when Silver returned to reclaim the office which he asserted was rightfully his. The dispute was settled by Dredd himself, in favour of McGruder.
However her second term in office was not the resounding success her first had been. Her years in the Cursed Earth had had a damaging effect on her mental health (as well as her physical appearance, which had acquired masculine characteristics), leaving her with a volatile temper, diminished judgement and (it was implied) a degree of multiple personality syndrome. Doubts began to be expressed about the quality of her leadership, which came to a head when she began a programme of robot judges which went disastrously wrong. There was little that could be done about it however, as she had abolished the Council of Five when she reclaimed her office. In 2116 a deputation of senior judges - including Dredd - attempted to persuade her to reform the Council (with a view to then removing her from office), but they were unsuccessful. Eventually it took an assassination attempt by one of her own robots to convince her to abort the project and to resign for a second time. She was succeeded by Judge Hadrian Volt.
Declining to take the Long Walk again, she became a civilian. In her retirement she developed Alzheimer's disease and her mental health rapidly deteriorated even further. When Judge Dredd heard that she had been scheduled for compulsory euthanasia he abducted her and led her to a more honourable death fighting criminals in the Cursed Earth. The facts of her death were covered up.
A Mega-City One battleship and a street were named after her in her honour.
- In the 1995 feature film, a Judge Evelyn McGruder was played by Joanna Miles.
| Preceded by: Unknown, eventually Judge Cal |
Head of SJS 2101–2104 |
Succeeded by: Unknown, eventually Judge Niles |
| Preceded by: Judge Griffin |
Chief Judge of Mega-City One 2104–2108 |
Succeeded by: Thomas Silver |
| Preceded by: Thomas Silver |
Chief Judge of Mega-City One 2112–2116 |
Succeeded by: Hadrian Volt |
