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Saturday, August 13, 2011 12:34
Photo by wallyg via Flickr
Courts in nearly every state have been forced to make debilitating cuts—at a time when pressure on the justice system continues to increase. This week the American Bar Association conference in Toronto passed a resolution calling on state legislatures to make adequate funding a “priority.”
The resolution was based on a report produced by a special American Bar Association (ABA) Task Force that toured the nation over the last 12 months surveying court conditions. The Task Force, co-chaired by prominent attorneys David Boies and Theodore B. Olson , concluded that court funding has been cut in most states between 10 per cent and 15 per cent, and warned that the juvenile justice and drug diversion programs operated by courts were especially at risk.
Echoing the Task Force’s bleak assessment, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said at the Toronto conference that “no one, not even lawyers and judges, understands what a financial bind the courts are in.” Consequently, she said, “they’re not ready for the political fights” needed to defend court funding in state legislatures. “The first thing we have to recognize,” added Boies, “is that we really are in a crisis.” Read the ABA resolution and report of the Task Force here.
The cutbacks have already had a severe impact on New York State, after the state’s Assembly rejected a special appeal by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman. Earlier this year, Judge Lippman, addressed the issue in a keynote address to the Harry Frank Guggenheim Symposium at John Jay College. Listen to a podcast of his speech or read a transcript here.
