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Bar News - July 6, 2001 Notes From a Messy Desk 'Get Over It'? A JUNE 18 editorial in the Union Leader titled "Get Over It! Stop Worrying and Take Action" advocates a constitutional amendment that would give the Legislature the right to decide how much to pay for education, supplanting the authority of the court to determine whether the funding method is constitutional. The arresting part is that this option is offered after the editorial blandly suggests another "option": defying the court's orders in the Claremont case. In a signed editorial, Bernadette Malone Connolly - soon to depart NH - suggests to the state that, "It can move ahead and ignore the court when it again rules in favor of Andru Volinsky and the Claremont plaintiffs. What would the scandal-tainted court do in such a case? Attempt to arrest all 424 legislators?" We hope this editorial is not a true indication of the esteem with which the judicial branch as an institution is held in the viewpoint of the state's largest newspaper. Disagreeing with decisions, questioning the court's reasoning, yes, even questioning motivations can be fair game for newspaper editorialists. But suggesting resistance against court orders merely because of political disagreements? As Keene Sentinel editorial writer Guy McMillin put it during a recent radio appearance with Connolly, that "reeks of vigilantism." Repeat It, Believe It Rep. Alf Jacobsen penned an opinion piece published June 7 by the Concord Monitor that, without offering any evidence, casually asserted that "The Bar leadership was openly active in making sure Chief Justice David Brock was acquitted of all impeachment charges before the state Senate." Ironically, this unfounded and untrue statement came precisely one paragraph after Jacobson had taken Associate Justice Broderick to task for allegedly providing "no documentation of...wide-ranging charges" that the Legislature was "dealing often with 'one-sided information, distorted facts or no facts at all.'" In fact, Justice Broderick hadn't mentioned the Legislature at all in that portion of his speech. Jacobsen's own words in the Monitor do seem to back up Broderick's point, though, don't you think? Wider Discretion A Newsday editorial supports a proposal in the New York State Assembly to allow judges greater discretion in sentencing individuals convicted of drug-related offenses. Both Governor George Pataki (R) and Assembly Democrats have put forward plans increasing judicial discretion. Gov. Pataki's plan, however, would allow prosecutors to veto a judge's sentence. Another difference concerns the number of prisoners that judges would be able to divert to treatment facilities. With the Assembly's proposal, the pool of eligible inmates is 4,872, while Pataki's plan would allow treatment for only 343 prisoners. The editorial concludes, "The power to decide what constitutes justice should be returned to judges. That is, after all, what they're elected or appointed to do." ("Assembly Has It Right: Let Judges Do the Judging," New York Newsday, June 7, 2001.) The preceding excerpt is from The Brennan Center Court Pester E-lert, which summarizes news stories and editorials related to the independence of judges and the courts. If you would like to subscribe to this free newsletter, e-mail praveen.krishna@nyu.edu. A Little Black Book "A Good Lawyer" is packed with aphorisms and advice from disparate sources. An example: the Marine Corps Principles of Leadership, printed below, are pithy and of universal appeal to managers and professionals (once you substitute "support staff" for "Marines" and some less authoritative word for "order").
An online edition of the book, by Washington attorney Stephen W. Comiskey, is at www.agoodlawyer.com.
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