On many issues I am generally center-to-right. I believe that government has grown to large and intrusive. However, I recognize that governments have essential functions that cannot be fulfilled by the private sector. One of those is providing a neutral forum for people to adjudicate their disputes.
Almost on a recurring basis we hear of government “cuts” though the government never seems to decline in size and taxes, when Federal, State and local are added together never seem to drop. Yet certain arms of government, most notably state court systems appear perpetually starved for funds. Court calendars are long. Judges come out late, leaving litigants to the mercy of clerks on “calendar calls.” Thus, litigants must arrive at 9:30 a.m. or 9:45 a.m. but the judge or referee doesn’t arrive until 10:30 a.m. The lines are frequently out the door, as they were in two “parts” or courtrooms this morning. This creates a travesty of justice. I had to consent to an adjournment to February 7, 2019 to avoid spending the day there, for an adjournment that would inevitably be granted.
On my other matter, both my adversary and I were in agreement on scheduling but we both had to show anyway. Ironically, the court had noticed the hearing date but not placed it in their calendar.
A picture tells a thousand words. The below picture speaks volumes:
Now “Part 72” is described by the Court as follows:
This “reduced staffing” closes the part, which is basically to assist unrepresented litigants, during lunch hour. That means people, who are often in desperate situations, need to take off work to get a simple question answered.
Moneys that are not cut include renaming bridges for recent politicians. The Tappan Zee Bridge name change to the Governor Mario Cuomo Bridge comes to mind. I think government needs to examine its mission, and deliver what people need. Another is politically charged nonessential legal assistance to people alleged to be illegal immigrants. Those causes may be laudatory but hardly what is needed by the average citizen. Among the essential needs, however, is access, on reasonable terms, to the judicial system.
Believe it or not, no. And a written stipulation won’t do either.
In the case of the first matter I was not willing to agree to the adjournment the other side wanted. The point of the matter is the system is broken, and the parts that actually serve the public are starved. I am sure that the consultants that study the system are doing just fine.
Hey, I’m a average citizen and I’ve never been involved in the legal system other than as a prospective juror. Therefore I assume its a waste of money just like you assume that every other part of the government that you don’t use/need/interact with on a regular basis is a waste of money. Why don’t they just fix the waste and abuse in the judiciary rather than taking money that should be spent fighting cancer.
As far as spending money renaming the bridge, two questions, 1) how much money did it cost, and 2) how much is that relative to the required budget to fix the court backlog. Frankly, even if all of the money spent on the bridge name was given to the courts I doubt you would notice the difference.
I agree. I think that no matter if you ask a liberal or conservative what one of the basic functions of government should be, the courts would be at least in the top three. Nonetheless, even with the bloated government that we have, it fails to fund one of its basic functions properly.
But as you note, a long of this is on the judges. There is no reason not to accept agreed orders or stipulations by the parties and not make you show up. Status hearings and the like when nothing is going on is an absolute waste of time for everyone involved and a waste of money for the clients. And nobody, and I mean nobody has the guts to hold local judges’ to any semblance of accountability for courtroom management.
“Cattle calls” as we refer to them around here, are absurd. Manage your fucking calendar like everyone else does, set a time for a hearing and have the litigants show up then. I shouldn’t have to waste my time and my client’s money because you cannot manage your calendar.
Showing up at 10:30 is absurd, especially when people are waiting. Judges should not be so god-like that there is nobody is the system that can tell them to get their ass on the bench by 8:30. They work for us, but they act like they rule their own little kingdom.
Instead of funding the system properly, they allow the tremendous miscarriage of justice by permitting prosecutorial overcharging and underfunding indigent defendant services so that only the most foolhardy person would dream of taking something to trial.
The government has bloated to unheard of levels but it refuses to fund the system whereby claims can be adjudicated.
I disagree. There was a major tax cut (well, if you’re rich anyway) at the federal level last year. That’s why the government runs such large deficits, Republicans never tire of cutting taxes and running up debt. At the state level, it’s rare that taxes are increased. Depending on your state, it may never happen. Or you may not have state taxes in the first place. At the local level, your property tax increases as your property increases in value, or your fellow citizens vote for a new property tax assessment.
I particularly love the fact that processing his civil suit is essential, but legal assistance to people accused of being illegal immigrants isn’t. Sure, their kids may be ripped from their arms and sent to live in a detention camp, but JBGUSA has money tied up in this suit, and he had to wait like 45 minutes for the judge to show up, AND the whole system is pretty inconvenient, when you think about it.
