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Monday, November 14, 2005
Courts - Judges in South Dakota may lose immunity, article cites Indiana
An AP story today headlined "Judges in S.D. may lose immunity" reports:
PIERRE, S.D. -- A movement is under way in South Dakota to turn the tables on members of the bench.Well, here is the South Dakota Judicial Accountability (SDJA) website, but I see no mention of Indiana.Activists are trying to put a radical measure on next year's ballot that could make South Dakota the first state to let people who believe their rights have been violated by judges put those judges on trial. Citizens could seek damages or criminal charges.
The measure would overturn more than a century of settled law in the United States by stripping judges of their absolute immunity from lawsuits over their judicial acts. * * *
Legal experts warned that such a provision could dangerously undermine the independence of South Dakota's judiciary, plunge the court system into anarchy, and run afoul of the U.S. Constitution.
And they noted there are already remedies available to the public: Bad rulings can be overturned on appeal, and judges who break the rules can be punished by state disciplinary boards and, in South Dakota and other states, voted out of office. * * *
Judicial immunity, the doctrine that says judges cannot be sued over their judicial acts, was established by the U.S. Supreme Court in an 1871 case.
The South Dakota amendment would eliminate state judges' immunity in cases involving deliberate violations of the law or someone's constitutional rights or deliberate disregard of the facts. * * *
[Businessman William Stegmeier, a leader of the movement, who turned in 46,800 signatures last week to put the proposed state constitutional amendment on the ballot in November 2006] said he has never had a bad experience in court. In fact, supporters of the measure have no examples of any problems in South Dakota. But Stegmeier said the amendment could help curb the abuses he has heard about across the country.
On its Web site, the group promoting the amendment, South Dakota Judicial Accountability, cites an Indiana case from the 1970s involving the sterilization of a 15-year-old girl, and argues that stripping judges of immunity would also help prevent decisions such as the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed homes to be seized for private development.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 14, 2005 04:29 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts