Litigation

Brandenburg: Budget Cuts Threaten Fair Courts

By Peter Hardin

In the face of shrinking state court budgets, the Justice at Stake Campaign is making adequate court funding a top priority. Sweeping court budget cuts “pose a growing threat to a fair, impartial and independent judiciary,” it told an ABA task force session in Atlanta recently.

“Every organization that cares about our courts must have a new focus on court funding,” Bert Brandenburg, JAS executive, told the American Bar Association panel. “If one of our constitutional branches of government is hollowed out from within, our society will be less fair and less free.”

A text of Brandenburg’s remarks to the ABA Task Force on Preservation of the Justice System is available here, and you can read a Gavel Grab article about other testimony before the task force by clicking here.

Among the speakers was Ted Olson, former solicitor general under President George W. Bush and a co-chair of the task force, who warned that state judiciaries are ?at a crisis point.?

Brandenburg told the task force that it is imperative for courts “to have the power and funding they need to protect people’s rights and to provide universal access to a high quality day in court.” He continued:

“Lack of funding is truly becoming a barrier to justice. In certain circumstances, it poses threats to the independence of our courts.”

Brandenburg said Justice at Stake has made advocacy of adequate court funding “a new pillar of a broadened strategic plan.” The group’s project has two chief goals, he said. They are to improve public awareness of the court funding crisis and to help build a broad coalition to maximize support.

“Justice at Stake has a track record of success in bringing public attention to important court issues,” Brandenburg concluded,  “and we?re eager to help our friends in the court system as they struggle with this issue.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 17, 2011 (boomark / email).