Chief justice: Court system at risk
Tells lawmakers better control, more flexibility needed
|
|
The Hon. Paul L. Reiber, Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, is greeted by legislative leaders Thursday as he approaches the podium in the House Chamber. Reiber addressed a joint session of the House and Senate. STEFAN HARD/TIMES ARGUS |
Toolbox
By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: February 20, 2009
MONTPELIER – It could be called a declaration of independence for the courts.
In an extremely rare appearance before lawmakers, Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Reiber Thursday proposed a series of wide-ranging changes to the structure and governance of the courts.
Reiber also warned bluntly that proposed cuts in court budgets and the reductions in services that would follow would leave the courts hard-pressed to fulfill their role unless some additional administrative consolidation and flexibility are instituted. And he said the court's role is a key on which democracy itself depends.
"I have the obligation to tell you that without change, without further progress towards a unified court system, we run the risk of not meeting our citizens' most important needs," Reiber said.
"A unified court structure is one that prepares and submits its own budget. And a unified system is one that is capable ultimately of changing itself, as the other branches do, when existing structures have been outpaced by societal change," Reiber said.
Vermont has already instituted a half-day-a-week court closure, and risks having to do as New Hampshire has done and temporarily suspend jury trials, Reiber said.
Reiber, whose speech Thursday was made to a joint session of the Senate and House, was only the second chief justice to make such an address.
He said the changes he suggested will have to be made to avoid the possibility of serious reductions to "a judicial structure that ensures fairness in the resolution of matters that affect the lives of every Vermonter."
Reiber's warnings and proposals are more than discussions among lawyers and judges about how to run the court system. They would affect the protection and exercising of civil rights, contract and probate law and nearly every other aspect of Vermonters' lives that involve laws or the courts.
While the grim economic condition of the country and the state precipitated the consideration of court cutbacks and changes, it also makes it more essential that the problems are solved soon, said Sen. John Campbell, a lawyer and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Campbell said in hard economic times, criminal cases like domestic violence can increase and it can be even more important that civil cases are solved quickly.
"The courts are a microcosm of our communities," he said.
A commission is now examining how the courts could be restructured, and the specifics of the changes should await those findings, Reiber said.
But his proposal consisted of two broad kinds of changes. First, he would like the administration and spending of the courts to be consolidated to give flexibility and the ability to set priorities to a central authority. Currently the counties provide some governance – through county side judges – and funding, while some comes through the justices and the state.
Reiber would also like the court system, which has an annual budget of about $37 million, to create its own budget, rather than relying on the governor and his administration to write a combined spending plan, as is the current practice.
And the courts should be no less than level-funded from the current year to the next, Reiber said.
All the changes would require legislative approval.
"We are an independent, third branch of government," Reiber said. "We are not an agency of the executive branch."
Gov. James Douglas, who appointed Reiber, agreed that the Legislature should give the Chief Justice more control over court administration and said the idea of consolidating some courts should be considered.
"The Legislature ought to give him as much flexibility as he needs," Douglas said.
But the governor, who has proposed a lower budget for the courts for the fiscal year that begins in July than in the current year, said that the executive branch should still be responsible for producing a unified budget for all of state government.
"I feel responsible for presenting a budget in its entirety," Douglas said.
As for level funding the courts, "we are going to have less than level revenue," he said.
"I respect it as an independent branch of government," Douglas said of the judiciary. "I am not asking that branch to do more than another branch of government, namely the executive."
Reiber's proposals represent a significant change to the court system, said Robert Paolini, executive director of the Vermont Bar Association.
"There are a lot of people who think it is long overdue. There are also those who think it is not politically possible," he said.
But the courts should be bringing the ideas up for discussion, he added.