An Agenda for Repairing State Judiciaries

I like the skit linked below, even though the actors speak with a kind of Skandinavian  lisp. It deals with problems in the legal profession and courts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7dTJHkq3Bw&feature=player_detailpage


I did not notice in the skit a well-deserved attack on the bar-integrated judiciary as an oligarchy that defies the CUSA's (Constitution's) guarantee of a republican form of government for the states and the state Constitutions' guarantees of separation of powers.  The beginning should hint at it, the middle already fleshes it out to some extent, and the end should punctuate it and call for changes to the constitutions and laws to correct it.  The thing should propose:

• Eliminate all forms of sovereign immunity, especially judicial immunity.
  
• Excise the bar from government altogether.
  
• Mandate licensing and regulation of attorneys by the Executive Branch.
  
• Prohibition of bar membership for attorneys  serving in government
  
• Eliminate all penalties for non-attorney practice of law (tort laws already suffice to punish the wicked) - make the point that lawyers cannot guarantee a quality advocacy or outcome to their clients, around half of opponents in litigation LOSE regardless of the ability of the attorney, and that eliminates all justification for making practice of law exclusive to attorneys.
  
• Mandate judge-paid performance and liability bonds managed by non-government corporations.
  
• Provide simpler ways for victims of judicial abuse to file claims against those bonds, halt judicial activity by the alleged culprit, and speedy hearing of complaints.
  
• Mandate a special grand jury and possibly out-of-state tribunal to indict and prosecute rogue judges who ignore and violate their oaths and their ministerial duties to obey procedural rules and laws.
  
• Mandate news coverage by internet and newspapers of all complaints against judges.
  
• Court watcher database of judicial performance and suggestion box in every court, with results available to the public - what one cannot monitor one cannot control
  
• Make all laws and court rulings organized, consistently presented, and instantly available to the public via internet - people must have access to the law.  The law must become fully findable and knowable.  To this day NOBODY knows the English law still in effect in Florida.
  
• Eliminate judicial precedent more than a year old and require the legislature to assess all rulings and modify the law to make it clear in support of or against that ruling - no other method will terminate legislating from the bench.
  
• Punish trial judges for rulings that appellate courts overturn - penalties like reduced salary, reduced percentage of full retirement benefit will force judges to give the best possible ruling in trial courts.
  
• Eliminate all judicial precedent by non-unanimous panels- if the judges cannot agree on the law, then their majority rulings should bind only those in the instant case.

Without such specific recommendations and a written bullet list of legislative objectives to repair the problem, the video becomes a depressing litany of the unsolvable problems of the courts and the legal profession.

-- ************************************************* Bob Hurt - Home Page - +1 (727) 669-5511 2460 Persian Drive #70 - Clearwater, FL 33763 Donate to my Law Studies Learn to litigate:  Buy and Study JURISDICTIONARY Stay up to date:  Subscribe to Lawmen E-Letter Now *************************************************

On Sun, 2011-03-06 at 08:39 -0600, Jon Roland wrote:

On 03/06/2011 01:17 AM, joseph zernik wrote:

However:

• The comment about corporate law being clean is out to lunch, if you take into account all the national law firms who work today for large financial institutions and mortgage service companies, and engage in fraud on the courts from coast to coast...

I didn't say the entire field was clean. I had the character (Paul) say that one could have a career in that field and not become aware of the corruption. Most of the work of corporate law is advising your client how to engage in contracts, collect on debts, follow regulations, and stay out of trouble. It mostly involves no litigation at all.

• The statement that implies that only "political" cases are perverted today is false.  The most commonly perverted cases are foreclosures.

And those are not "political"? Remember, the definition provided was "cases not decided on merit". That is, cases decided on connections. That is political.

• As shown in Luzerne County, PA, and in Los Angeles County, CA, another class of cases that is often perverted are criminal prosecutions, which lead to imprisonment in corporate-owned, privatized prisons.

The video touches on that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7dTJHkq3Bw&feature=player_detailpage

Jon Roland

http://constitution.org