Fair Courts E-lert: How to Judge a Judge
1. A KCET public television brief focusing on the upcoming California Superior Court elections notes: “Every two years voters are asked to elect a handful of judges to the county courts, yet the men and women who covet a black robe are different from most other candidates in one very important respect: they're not asking to represent us.” A Los Angeles Times editorial endorsing three incumbents also concludes that “[j]udges are most definitely different [than members of Congress]. The last thing we want or need in California is trial judges who sit on the bench with one eye on justice and the other on how any particular ruling is going to play with the public.”
Brian Frank, How to Judge a Judge, KCET, April 18, 2012; Elections 2012: For the Superior Court, Los Angeles Times, April 20, 2012.
2. In Tennessee and Iowa, groups are hoping to shed light on the judicial selection process through public education campaigns. The Memphis Bar Association has launched an imitative to provide “nonpartisan civics lesson in the vital role that an independent judiciary has played in this country and will continue to play if this country is to have a future.” According to Bar Association President Gary K. Smith, “[s]urveys have indicated that the general public has a fair measure of distrust in the concept of judicial independence. However, the same surveys demonstrate that people want fair and impartial courts. You cannot have the latter without the former. . . .The objective is justice, and justice should never be a product of political compromise or influence. Nor will justice ever be served by less than an independent judiciary.” The League of Women Voters of Cedar Rapids/Marion, Iowa is also striving to boost public awareness of the judicial selection processwith a forum April 21 on “Judicial Retention: Who Does What and When.” Forum Chairperson Mary Ann Nelson told The Gazette that event is geared toward discussing the “sometimes unknown and misunderstood process of selecting our judges.”
Gary K. Smith, Guest Column: 'Law Rules' Initiative is Vital Civics Lesson, Commercial Appeal, April 17, 2012;League Of Women Voters Hosting Forum On Judicial Retention, The Gazette, April 16 2012.
Court Resources
3. At a joint Senate Committee hearing in Sacramento last week, witnesses urged the California legislature to increase aid to the state judiciary. According to the Los Angeles Times, California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye stated that another round of budget cuts “threatens to continue the shuttering of courtrooms, depriving Californians of access to their judicial system.” And in a Courthouse News Service account of the proceedings, attorney David Boies said the cuts have “really gone to the bone, they've gone to the skeleton of our justice system. What we have seen in states across the country is courthouses closed. Sometimes a day a week, sometimes a day a month, sometimes an afternoon, sometimes closed entirely. We have seen court personnel laid off. We have seen judges who do not have the resources to deal with complicated cases. We have seen instances in which courts will not be able to give a litigant a copy of the court's opinion unless the litigant brings their own paper because the court system has run out of paper."
Patrick McGreevy, California Chief Justice Warns Budget Cuts are Threatening Court System, LA Times, April 16, 2012; Maria Dinzeo, Cast of Court Players Call Upon California for Critical Funding, Courthouse News Service, April 17, 2012.
Diversity on the Bench
4. The Salt Lake Tribune notes that, “[w]ith two open judgeships in the state’s largest judicial district, the Utah Minority Bar Association wants to make sure justice is not just blind but color-blind.” Appearing before the 3rd District Judicial Nominating Committee last Tuesday, Bar Association members stated that currently the “state’s judiciary does not reflect the people it serves.” According to the Tribune,the Hispanic and Latino population in Utah has more than quadrupled in the past 20 years, yet of the 24 judges Governor Gary Herbert has appointed to the bench while in office, none have been representative of “an ethnic or racial minority.”
Aaron Falk, Minority Lawyers Want Judicial Branch to Reflect Utah’s Ethnic Makeup, Salt Lake Tribune, April 17 2012.
Federal Judicial Selection
5. Discussing the federal judicial crisis, an editorial in the Tulsa World observes that “[f]or two years, the U.S. District Court in Tulsa has gone without a replacement for Judge Terence C. Kern, who took senior status. Across the U.S., the vacancy rate for federal courts is one in 10 seats.” Another editorial last week in the Toledo Blade similarly highlighted the “stalled” nomination of attorney Jeffrey Helmick, who was nominated almost a year ago to replace the seat vacated by U.S. District Judge James Carr in 2010, and concludes that “the delay needs to end.”
End Judge Logjam, Toledo Blade, April 18, 2012; No Delays, Tulsa World, April 18, 2012.
Judicial Reform
6. On June 6 the Florida Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on proposals to revise court governance rules. The Supreme Court imposed new rules in February after reviewing the Florida Court Governance Study Group’s recommendations, but trial and appellate judges have prevailed in urging the Court reconsider the new rules, according to the Miami Herald. Among other restrictions, the new rules limit judges’ lobbying ability, which critics claim violates judges’ free speech rights.
Bill Kaczor, Judges Object to Fla. Justices' New Court Rules, Associated Press, April 12, 2012; Florida Justices To Consider Court Rule Changes, Associated Press, April 19, 2012
Miscellaneous
7. A recent concurrence authored by D.C. District Court Judge Janice Rogers Brown is a clear example of the politicization of the courts, according to a Slate Magazine piece by Dalia Lithwick, who notes that the ideological rhetoric in the opinion serves not only as “an example of the ways partisan politics are bleeding into the federal courts, but [also] as a warning about how radically the federal courts are poised to reshape our politics.” Professor Orin Kerr also questioned the “propriety” of Judge Brown’s opinion. Writing in the Volokh Conspiracy blog, Professor Kerr notes that “[G]iven that these views have no obvious relevance to the job of a lower court judge, and yet resonate with certain current political movements, a decision by judges to publish such comments in a judicial opinion (even in a non-binding concurrence) runs a risk of being perceived as blending political and judicial roles.”
Dahlia Lithwick, The Supreme Court’s Bad Precedent, Slate, April 18, 2012; Orin Kerr, Judges Brown and Sentelle Urge the Supreme Court to End Rational Basis Review of Economic Regulations, Volokh Conspiracy blog, April 14, 2012.
