From: Fair Courts E-lert, May 7, 2010 Published by the Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law. 1. Show Me Better Courts, a Missouri organization seeking to replace the state’s merit selection of judges with contested judicial elections, claims to have raised $1.5 million “to gather petition…
Jonathan Stock who along with others has been working tirelessly to save six threatened law libraries in Connecticut from closure due to financial constraints. Here is Jonathan’s latest report, received as an e-mail on May 6, 2010.: The Connecticut General Assembly closed down last night. We now know that the…
The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct has released its 2010 Annual Report which ” recommends [a] greater role for state high court, and public disciplinary proceedings, in conduct cases” The 2010 Report documents the Commission’s work in 2009. The Commission is the state agency responsible for investigating complaints…
Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge of the State of New York INTRODUCTION This is my first State of the Judiciary message as the Chief Judge of the State of New York. Months ago, I was expecting to give a live address at Court of Appeals Hall in Albany, similar to those…
Published by: Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. The Brennan Center Fair Courts E-lert summarizes news stories and editorials related to the independence of judges and the courts, including material attacking, defending, and concerning the judiciary. ————————————————————————————————- Fair Courts E-lert, April 23, 2010 State…
In his provocative Opinion piece Our Fill-in-the-Blank Constitution in the April 13 New York Times, Geoffrey Stone examines this question and more. He emphasizes that contitutional law is not a mechanical exercise in just applying the law, a fact that needs always to be considered in the selection and evaluation…
@ the Center is the flagship e-newsletter of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). It highlights major projects, publications and conferences related to the work of NCSC.. Even though this newsletter is of redcent vintage (still Volume 1) it has already caught the attention of many in the judiciary.…
Thanks to Carole Levitt, President of Internet for Lawyers, for alerting us to the “key steps to improve public access to feferal courts by increasing the availability of court openions and expanding the services and reducing the costs for many users of the Public Access to Electronic Court Records (PACER)…
Two days ago I posted information on this blog related to the New York Court of Appeals decision (Maron v. Silver, 16 ‘ Larabee v. Governor, 7 ; Chief Judge v. Governor, 18) addressing judicial compensation in that state within the framework of separation of powers. Today I have learned…
February 23, 2010 In a 5 – 1 decision the New York Court of Appeals found that the legislature and the executive branches had undermined the independence of the judicial branch by tying judges pay raises to unrelated legislation, including bills to raise legislators own salaries, thereby violating the separation…