To the Citizens of New Hampshire:

On Election Day, November 2, only one proposed constitutional amendment will be on the ballot. We are asking you to vote "No" on this amendment because we believe it would fundamentally alter the structure of New Hampshire government.

This amendment would change Part II, Article 73-a of the New Hampshire Constitution. It seeks to give administrative control of all New Hampshire courts to the legislature. The amendment, despite the claims of its proponents, does not remedy some imbalance of powers among the branches of government; in fact, it fundamentally alters the fine balance among them.

Today the administration of the New Hampshire's courts is the responsibility of the chief justice and the justices of the Supreme Court. The administration of the court system includes the hiring of court personnel, the assignment of judges, the scheduling of cases and many other matters concerning the day-to-day operation of the courts of our state. For decades, decisions regarding such matters have been the responsibility of the courts, not the legislature.

The independence of each of the three branches of government was established by our constitution in 1784. Part I, Article 37 states that the three branches "ought to be kept as separate from, and independent of, each other, as the nature of a free government will admit..." That independence should not be eroded by the passage of the proposed amendment. At best, seeking to transfer administration of the courts to the legislature creates the prospect of years of unnecessary constitutional crisis. At worst, it destroys the thoughtful structure established by our founding leaders in which each branch has the ultimate responsibility to administer its own affairs.

We know that writing this letter is an extraordinary measure. We do so reluctantly and only because we believe there are good reasons why our predecessors removed the courts from politics; they believed, as we do, that the people of New Hampshire are best served by courts that are not subject to political administration and partisan control.

For these reasons, we ask the citizens of New Hampshire to reject this amendment and preserve the constitutional balance among the branches of government that has served the public well for over two hundred years.

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