New Jersey mediation Article

INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY

In the February 4, 2008 issue of The New Yorker, there is an article by Jeffrey Toobin (author of the book about the US Supreme Court, The Nine) titled “Death in Georgia.” The article traces the horrors and the politics of the Georgia legal system, with specific focus on a death penalty case, how and why it has stalled, and the pressures to which the presiding judge has been subjected.

We in Middlesex County are so lucky! We have good judges. The MCBA Officers and the Presidents of the Middlesex County Bar Foundation and the county Trial Lawyers Association meet regularly with the Assignment Judge and Presiding Judges to exchange vital information and ideas. We in New Jersey are also lucky in that our judges are appointed, and thus need not campaign for election; also, our current governor respects the “compact” with the NJ State Bar Association, and seems to heed the input the state and county bar associations’ JPACs provide to the selection and retention of judges and county prosecutors. So judicial independence is not as threatened here as it has been for the federal judiciary and those of other states, like, apparently, Georgia.

The United States’ independent judiciary is actually the most respected branch of our government, and the envy of the free world. Most people accept the decisions of our judges, for the most part, even when we disagree on the decisions on the merits, because the integrity of the process itself is more important than any individual decision. Our independent courts are essential to an orderly, lawful society. A robust and productive economy also depends upon a consistent, predictable, evenhanded, and respected system of the rule of law. That kind of system requires respected judges.

Americans understand that no system is perfect and no judge is absolutely immune from error, but we also know that our society would crumble if we did not respect the judicial process and the judges who make it work.

Threats of violence and intimidation aimed at judges, such as the judge discussed in the Toobin article I referred to, are therefore intolerable. All of us in the organized bar can and should be unequivocally unified about the proposition that judges must be protected from aggrieved litigants and acts of terrorism. They should also, however, be shielded from unwarranted criticism and political pressure because of their decisions.

Absent lawlessness or corruption in the judiciary, which are astonishingly rare in NJ, and absent in this county , attacking judges, even verbally, who render decisions we do not like is not the answer. Restricting the jurisdiction of courts in response to unpopular decisions, as some have suggested be done with regard to the federal judiciary, is an overreaction which will not serve the long-term interests of the nation.

We expect, even demand, dignity, wisdom, decency, civility, integrity and restraint from our judges. We, whether lawyers or litigants, are almost always treated that way. We must exercise those same characteristics in our dealings with, and commentary on, those same judges -- from their appointment and confirmation, to their decision-making once they take the bench.

Consider again that we are very lucky to have the legal system, the judiciary being an independent and equal branch of government, within which we lawyers work

. By: Lynn F. Miller, Past President, Middlesex County Bar Association.

The information expressed above should not be construed as legal advice but merely information on the law that may be of interest to you. Remember, individual legal problems require individual solutions. Please contact Miller, Miller & Tucker, P.A. if we can help.