Miscellaneous

State of the Commonwealth

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Justice is in jeopardy in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts Chief Justice Marshall is up in arms over state budget cuts. The cuts, she says, fall disproportionately on the courts.

Fifty million dollars lopped off the budget in a single year cannot occur without consequences. It's hard to show what might *not* happen due to lack of funding, but here are a few interesting figures:

• 2%: Percentage of the state budget accounting for the judiciary


• $22 million: Amount by which the court's budget was cut a year ago


• Fewer than 7000: Number of court employees in Massachusetts


• 670: Number of court employees cut since July of this year


• 6-8 weeks: Amount of additional time it takes to appear with a complaint of nonpayment of child support

Luckily, the commonwealth is lucky enough to have a chief who will stand up for its courts. Are other states (or commonwealths) so lucky? And is anyone paying attention?

See Chief Justice Warns Cuts Put Courts at Risk, Peter Schworm, Boston Globe (October 22, 2009). See also Charlie Rose's Chief Guest on this blog (July 20, 2008).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on November 09, 2009 (boomark / email).