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2009 News Articles › State Courts Summit Only The Beginning
State Courts Summit Only The Beginning
Article Date: Monday, May 18, 2009
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Justice O'Connor delivers keynote address.
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From NCBA and ABA Reports
The 300-plus judges, lawmakers and bar leaders
who gathered May 7-9 for the American Bar Association’s state courts summit
departed Charlotte in firm agreement that their work has only begun.
Common
ground was also found in the need to improve relations between all three
branches of government and to work to preserve adequate funding for courts and
related government services.
“The delegates recognized that justice is
indeed the business of all three branches of government, especially in times of
state and local budgetary crisis,” said ABA President H. Thomas Wells Jr. who
convened the summit. “It is the obligation of all three equal and independent
branches to cooperate in defining and providing equal justice for all.”
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| Justice Martin addresses summit. |
Sponsored by the ABA and the National Center for State Courts, “Justice is the
Business of Government: The Critical Role of Fair and Impartial State Courts”
convened state senators and representatives, state attorneys general and
gubernatorial representatives, judges and court administrators, all with the
goal of fostering improved understanding of each other’s roles in serving public
needs, and the obstacles they face in fulfilling them.
The delegates
outlined general principles for advancing better relationships. Edward W.
Madeira of Philadelphia and N.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark Martin, co-chairs of
the ABA Commission on Fair and Impartial State Courts, and Mary Campbell McQueen
of the NCSC urged delegates to reconvene in their own states to develop specific
and localized plans.
Retired
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who serves as honorary chair of
the Commission on Fair and Impartial State Courts provided the keynote
address.
“It was a capstone experience for me to help organize the ABA
president’s signature initiative,” Justice Martin stated. “I am very pleased
that the national summit took place in North
Carolina. We owe a debt of gratitude to the North Carolina lawyers
and law deans who helped make this possible in the midst of very challenging
economic circumstances.
“We also owe a debt of gratitude to the North
Carolina Bar Association for its tremendous support of the summit.”
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| NCBA President Charles Becton, right, visits with longtime colleague Erwin
Chemerinsky. |
President Charles Becton, Executive Director Allan Head and Kim Crouch, director
of governmental relations, represented the NCBA at the event.
The North
Carolina delegation was led by Chief Justice Sarah Parker and included Joe
Hackney, Speaker of the N.C. House, Sen. Dan Clodfelter, Rep. Becky Carney,
Chief Judge John Martin of the N.C. Court of Appeals, Edwin M. Speas, general
counsel in the Office of the Governor, AOC Director John W. Smith and State Bar
President John McMillan.
Justices
Robert Edmunds and Paul Newby of the N.C. Supreme Court and Judges James Wynn,
Wanda Bryant and Linda McGee of the N.C. Court of Appeals were also in
attendance. President John Lassiter of the Mecklenburg County Bar and NCBA
Past-President Ozzie Ayscue co-chaired the Charlotte Host Committee.
Featured
presenters and speakers included Tom Ross, president of Davidson College, and
Erwin Chemerinsky, former Duke Law School professor and current dean of the
University of California at Irvine
School of Law.
Additional N.C. entities and law schools were also well
represented throughout the event.
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ABA President Tommy Wells provides closing remarks.
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Our hope is that the summit will serve as a catalyst for stakeholders in the 37
participating jurisdictions to engage in a continuing dialogue about their
respective justice systems,” Justice Martin added. “The objective of this
ongoing dialogue is to foster better collaboration and coordination among the
three branches of government concerning the delivery of services within state
justice systems.
“To effectuate this goal, the ABA is unveiling a Web
site offering practical materials, including a tool kit of best practices, to
help individual jurisdictions successfully confront systemic challenges and
promote public trust and confidence in the courts.”
Delegates agreed
judges should be more assertive as leaders of state government, and emphasized
the importance of regular communication with colleagues in other branches,
particularly regarding pending legislation that will impact the courts. They
also encouraged advocacy, sometimes through judicial councils or associations,
and sometimes involving constituencies such as police, prosecutors, victims and
employee organizations.
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Justice O'Connor visits with, from left, executive directors Allan Head and John
Phelps (Ariz.), State Bar President John McMillan and Justice Paul Newby.
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Court funding is ripe for advocacy, agreed delegates, calling for dependable and
predictable funding from general state revenues, not tied to court fees that
increase the burden on citizens seeking justice. The delegates suggested an
automatic minimum percentage of the state budget should be reserved for the
judicial branch, and called for increased autonomy in managing judicial
budgets.
Many
delegates called for an end to partisan and non-partisan judicial elections, and
supported merit selection systems to choose judges instead. Short of abandoning
elections, they urged improving qualification standards for individuals who run
for judicial election, creating public funding systems, establishing voluntary
judicial campaign conduct committees and generally tamping down the nastiness
and costliness of judicial campaigns.
Public
education about government systems to foster broader understanding of the roles
of all branches of government was another common theme. To enhance public
understanding of judicial systems in particular, delegates encouraged judges to
use less jargon in their rulings and to explain their decisions more
clearly.
They also acknowledged courts are not always seen as being fair,
describing perceptions of fairness as the single most important factor in
determining whether people have confidence in the courts. They reminded judges
that courthouses can double as classrooms when judges take opportunities to
teach the public about systems, procedures and the legal system while they
perform their judicial duties on the bench.
“The National Center for State Courts commissioned and presented a
national public opinion poll as part of the program developed for the national
summit,” Justice Martin concluded. “This poll was very encouraging in that it
revealed strong public support for states to take all necessary steps to ensure
that courts remain fair, impartial, and independent institutions.
“It is
our mandate as lawyers to support all necessary steps to make sure this happens
in North Carolina. If we as lawyers do not accept this challenge, who will?”
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Full summit
information is available via the ABA Web site at:
http://www.abavideonews.org/ABA2831/