DRI Report Makes Plea to ''Preserve our besieged court system''

04/22/11

And that's how DRI-The Voice of the Defense Bar, agrees it should be.


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According to the their website, DRI - The Voice of the Defense Bar, ''is an international organization of defense attorneys and corporate counsel that is recognized as a thought-leader and an advocate for the defense bar at the national and state level as well as in Europe. With more than 22,000 members, DRI provides members and their clients with access to world-class education, legal resources and numerous marketing and networking opportunities that facilitate career and law firm growth.'' The DRI was established nearly fifty years ago.

On April 19th, the organization issued a report, Without Fear or Favor in 2011, showing that large contributions made to judicial campaigns have reached new levels following the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission.

The DRI is of the opinion that this decision drastically compromises the concept of judicial independence, as well as the ongoing integrity of the civil justice system.

Essentially, in the case of Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, the United States Supreme Court found that ''corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited - because of the First Amendment. The 5-4 decision, in favor of Citizens United, resulted from a dispute over whether the non-profit corporation Citizens United could air a film critical of Hillary Clinton, and whether the group could advertise the film in broadcast ads featuring Clinton's image, in apparent violation of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, commonly known as the McCain-Feingold Act,'' according to Wikipedia.

The DRI's report investigates a wide variety of issues that are believed to be affecting the independence and accountability of judges, and looks at how campaign contributions and so called 'attack' ads are hurting the judiciary, as well as ''compromising the appearance of fairness in our court systems,'' according to the April 19th PR Newswire press release.

The report also offers a variety of solutions. Among them are DRI's recommendations that judges who accept campaign contributions over a certain dollar figure be automatically disqualified. As well, the DRI recommends that procedures be established for ''handling disqualification motions by a judge different than the one who is subject of the recusal motion and expanding the use of non-partisan judicial performance evaluations to help educate voters and promote a less politicized electoral process,'' according to the press release. Additionally, the DRI recommends greater diversity in the judiciary to give greater assurance ''that decisions are perceived to be fair.''

But, beyond just the appearance of fairness, the DRI report also shows how unlimited campaign contributions have caused the conduct of elections to decline.

Matt Cairns, president of DRI, was quoted as saying in the April 19th PR Newswire press release: ''With increased special interest funding, attack ads have become common, altering both the substance and tone of judicial elections. As demonstrated by what occurred in the 2010 Iowa Supreme Court retention election, special interest groups want to treat judicial decisions like they treat the decisions of other branches of government. And, they want to treat judicial elections like they are just another partisan political election. However, judicial decision making and judicial elections are different. Our courts act as a check on the excesses of the other branches of government. Judges are supposed to be neutral and fairly evaluate cases based on their interpretation of the facts and the law. Judges shouldn't be worried about the latest opinion poll on a hot button issue.''

The report also discusses the impact of the recession on the judiciary - the most significant being that some states have, among other measures, actually closed their courts, or reduced hours, as well as staffs.

Steve Puiszis, editor of Without Fear or Favor, and chair of DRI's Judicial Task Force, was quoted as saying in the April 19th PR Newswire press release: ''Our courts have to be open to all in our society to use to resolve their disputes. State courts have been hit especially hard by legislators looking to slash budgets. Systems are stagnating, and public awareness of the problem is unfortunately very low.''

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The report examines the attitude of the public toward judicial decisions as well, and cites content found online as ''increasingly hostile to judges and the judicial system''. As a result, the DRI recommends greater security at courthouses.