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Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Courts - "Judges need to join the fight to save the courts"
"Bench-Clearing Brawl: Judges need to join the fight to save the courts" is the headline to an important article published Friday in Slate, paralleling what the ILB has been saying (much less concisely) over the past few years. Some quotes (but I urge you to read the whole article):
A lot of state judges will be staying up election night this November, and not just because many of them will be on the ballot. One of the most overlooked political stories of 2006 is a cluster of state ballot initiatives designed to hobble courts. Their backers seek the aura of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. But the measures look more like On the Waterfront: They point toward a political intimidation racket benefiting special interests that want courts to deliver results, not justice.Read the whole article!!!In Colorado, there's a push for retroactive term limits for appellate judges. The measure would write pink slips for 12 judges in the near future and clear off most of the Supreme Court in just a couple of years. In Montana, where every judge already runs for office, Constitutional Initiative 98 would create a new layer of recall elections to oust judges over specific decisions. An Oregon measure seeks to throw out justices from Portland by creating geographical districts for the Supreme Court. And in South Dakota, a "J.A.I.L. 4 Judges" initiative would amend the state constitution to create a fourth branch of government: a special grand jury to sue judges and others for their decisions.
Crusades against independent courts are sprouting like mushrooms. It's time for judges and everyone else who cares about judicial independence to stop hoping that dignified silence will win the day. Enemies of impartial justice are energized and organized. But judges have the tools they need to fight back and win—if they're willing to roll up their robes and explain in plain language why interest groups must not take America's system of fair and impartial courts hostage. * * *
What can friends of the courts do in the face of angry radicals masquerading as populists? They must start by listening. Buried beneath the angry bluster are real values and concerns. Americans want their courts to be independent and accountable. For years, too many judges, bar leaders, and good-government types have fretted that judicial accountability is too mushy and complicated to defend in a public debate. Courts are just different, they mumble, and then retreat to the Federalist Papers and sermons about judicial independence.
In the meantime, court-bashers have been busily framing their anger in accountability terms that resonate with American values. That's why wishing away the accountability debate is a huge mistake. Independent courts have always coexisted with American populism, and citizens of all stripes are right to insist that courts must be accountable. The judicial establishment can't afford to treat ordinary Americans like ignorant cousins at the family picnic. Judges are the sleeping giants in the national debate over the courts, and if they don't wake up soon, they'll find themselves lashed down.
It's also time for courts and those who care about them to embrace the notion of judicial accountability and define it properly instead of letting court-bashers corrupt it beyond recognition. Friends of the court need to remind the public that courts are already accountable and proud of it—accountable to the law and the Constitution, not to politicians, special interests, and rage campaigns. It's not an overstatement to say that the road to independence runs through accountability.
In the longer term, it's time to invest more time, money, and energy in educating Americans about how courts work. Americans who understand the role of precedent, appeals, and constitutional review are most likely to reject attempts to weaken the courts. Indeed, knowledge often trumps ideology. The special role that courts play in a democracy reminds people of core constitutional values that they treasure more than their anger over the debate of the day.
[More] The article was authored by Bert Brandenburg, who is "the executive director of the Justice at Stake Campaign, a nonpartisan national organization working for fair and impartial courts."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 1, 2006 09:21 AM
Posted to Courts in general | Indiana Courts