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Los Angeles, CA
September 14, 2009
A Public Service
Announcement to America
(To be removed from this
PSA see instructions below)
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The Battle Lines<
/SPAN> are Drawn:
J.A.I.L. versus The Foreign Power
A Power
Foreign to Our Constitution
California Courts
Closing Its Doors
Today is September 14. In just
two days all of the courts in the State of California will be closing. Our
California judicial system is in total shambles, while the judges are
prospering. They can now sit along their pool side with lemonade while they
collect not only their full salary, but an additional $46,000.
During the last two decades of
the California courts an appellate court has found that the Lo s Angeles
County judges have been taking $46,000 in annual County bribes. This payoff
of the judges by the County of Los Angeles has influenced their decisions
whenever the County of Los Angeles has been a party to an action. In fact,
Attorney Fredrick Bennett, who was assigned to all cases involving judges,
has boasted that in all his years he has never lost a case wherein a judge
was called into account. I, Ron Branson, testify that when I appeared in
federal court as a plaintiff against a Los Angeles judge, Mr. Bennett would
sport with the judge in my presence prior to the case proceeding. His
conversation, my not remembering the names, went as follows; “How is your
wife Helen? How is your son, Johnnie and your daughter Mary?” This was his
manner of letting me know that he has an intimate relationship with the
federal judge as though having picnicked with the family last Saturday. In
effect, he was laughing at me over the very idea that I would seek to hold a
Los Angeles judge accountable.
Economically, the chickens are
coming home to roost, and now the courts are20facing financial turmoil and
having to close. For those of you not familiar with the judicial system here
in California, the author of the below article is California Chief Justice
Ronald George. I was called by the Los Angeles Times, and on the other end
was Reporter Jessica Garrison. She asked me, “Do you know who Ronald
George is?” I said yes, he is the Chief Justice of California. She said,
“That’s correct. I just got off the phone with Ronald George and he says
he knows you.” I said to her, I’m very impressed, but he has nothing
good to say about me. She said, “That is correct.” I then told her that
Ronald George has said in the media that I am out to destroy this
“wonderful judicial system” we have here in California.
She asked me if I would meet with
her for an interview. I told her yes, and I met her at Sitton’s
Restaurant. She was quite a serious person, and during that interview I
decided to enter a little humor. I said to her, “I’m going to call
Ronald George and arrange for lunch with him.” She asked, “Why would you
do that?” I to her “You said that Ronald George knows me, so I
thought we should get together and discuss getting JAIL4Judges passed here
in California.” She did not crack a smile.
Anyway, below you will see Ronald
George mourning the closures of his courts throughout California. He has
entitled it, “Justice Takes a Day Off.” If it is any consolation to him,
I am here announcing J.A.I.L.’s goal to post the Judicial Accountability
Initiative Law on our California Secretary of State’s website, and the
endeavor to place Judicial Accountability on the California ballot in
California for November, 2010. Ronald George’s help in this endeavor will
be appreciated. We know this news will spread across this nation very fast.
Enjoy as you read the words of my
dear ole’ friend, Chief Justice Ronald George. He was kind enough to write
about me in his State of the Judiciary message for 2007, so if you care to
write him, tell him Ron Branson sent ya.
Ron Branson
* *
*
Los Angeles Times
In
California, justice takes a day off
The state's chief justice says
shutting down the courts one day a month will be a burden -- and a test of
our ability to deal with fiscal crisis.
·Related
By Ronald M. George
September 14, 2009
Starting Sept. 16, the largest court system in the
nation will be closing the doors of courthouses across the state one day
each month. On Wednesday, an estimated 3 million cases will be delayed, 150
jury trials interrupted and 250 child custody cases unheard. Jails will be
more crowded as arraignment and release dates are postponed; attorneys and
their clients will be inconvenienced, as will jurors; and the public will
experience longer lines, more delays and more crowded courtrooms.
Wednesday is the first of 10 monthly statewide closure days (uniformly the
third Wednesday of each month) authorized by the Judicial Council, the
constitutionally created body that administers California's court system. As
in many other states, the council was created in the 1920s, an outgrowth of
the Progressive movement, which sought to make=2 0government more efficient,
more effective and more accountable. The mission of the council today
remains largely unchanged: to ensure the consistent, impartial and
accessible administration of justice in the state.
Why then is the council, a body created to protect and increase access to
justice in California, allowing our courts to close for even one day a
month?
California's economic crisis has affected government at all levels and in
nearly every area of service, as well as every aspect of private life and
business. For seven months, Californians have endured the effects of
mandatory furloughs for many state workers, first two days a month and now
three. But courts are not state agencies. And courthouses -- known earlier
in our history as "temples of justice" -- are not just office
buildings; they are the repository of our fundamental commitment to justice
for all. The unintended yet inevitable symbolism of "Closed" signs
on institutions that embody our democratic ideals is yet another tragic
indicator of the severity of California's economic crisis.
The Judicial Council, with express authorization from the Legislature and
the governor, made the difficult decision to close courts one day a month to
avoid even more damaging consequences of reductions in the judicial branch's
budget. This course of action was taken with great reluctance at an
emergency public meeting in July, after substantial input from local courts
and after months of examining alternatives. In the end, court closures
proved to=2 0be the only rational option available to address budget
realities while protecting skilled employees from massive layoffs,
maintaining a consistent level of court services for litigants and their
lawyers, and preserving equal access to justice. Indeed, the Superior Court
of Los Angeles County had already concluded that closures were inevitable
and in July became the first court in the state to implement monthly
closures.
At the emergency meeting, I pledged to reduce my own salary to share in the
sacrifice we are asking of the majority of the 21,000 men and women who work
in the California judicial branch. I also encouraged my judicial colleagues
across the state -- more than 1,600 trial judges and an additional 111
appellate justices -- to join me in voluntarily waiving their salaries for
one day a month or donating a portion of their salaries to support court
operations. I am gratified to report that a very high percentage of the
judges in the state have pledged to either participate in the waiver or to
make private donations to their respective courts. As The Times recently
reported, that figure is exceptionally high in Los Angeles, where 423 of the
430 judges are participating in voluntary pay reductions.
At this critical juncture in our state's history, even as the judicial
branch is forced to close courts one day a month, the state court system
itself remains stronger and better able to deliver on the promise of equal
justice under law because of the many changes we have made in t he last
several years. In the years I have served as California's chief justice and
chairman of the Judicial Council, the judicial branch has undergone the most
significant structural reforms in our state's history.
The court reforms of recent years rival those of the Progressive era and
will exceed them in the benefits they provide to the public. Legislation in
1997 that allowed for statewide funding of the trial courts addressed
historic inequities in the quality of justice dispensed among California's
58 counties. In 1998, California voters approved an amendment to the state
Constitution to permit the unification of the 220 Superior and Municipal
courts into 58 trial courts -- one in each county. Unification has allowed
greater flexibility in the use of judicial and staff resources, eliminated
duplicative services and led to the creation of additional services for the
public, such as collaborative justice courts, domestic violence courts, drug
courts and complex litigation courts. Finally, the Trial Court Facilities
Act of 2002 called for the transfer of responsibility for court facilities
from the counties to the state. This allowed the judicial branch for the
first time to assume responsibility for the buildings in which judges and
court staff work and the public is served, and to do so economically and
effectively. To date, 503 (more than 90%) of our court structures have been
transferred to the state's ownership under judicial branch management.
These historic changes and the growing responsibilities of t he council have
been a means to an end. They have strengthened the judiciary as a coequal
and independent branch of government and secured the system of checks and
balances essential to a robust democracy. They have addressed budget
inequities among trial courts around the state. They have improved our
branch's accountability to our sister branches of government for the
financial appropriations provided to the courts. And ultimately they have
enhanced equal access to justice and provided a greater degree of
accountability.
One irony of the current crisis is that it restricts court services at a
time when the need for them is increasing. The economic downturn has
produced a sharp spike in civil filings, especially in the areas of contract
and unlawful detainer, which includes evictions. This increase has more than
offset a small decline in criminal filings. What this means to judges and
court staff is that we are asking them to do more with less. What this means
for all Californians is that we must provide adequate resources for courts
to resolve disputes in an orderly manner, or suffer the consequences of
being unable to meet the public's needs.
When I served as a trial judge in Los Angeles during the 1970s and '80s,
California was still in its age of abundance. Today we are in a far more
challenging time. The fiscal crisis in our state will have profound effects
on many aspects of public service, including the courts, in the next fiscal
year and for several years to come. I am committed20to protecting the public
from the full impact of further reductions in court services, and from any
decline in the high quality of justice that so many have worked so long to
achieve.
My hope is that as we are tested by this crisis, all of us -- state
government officers, justices and judges, court employees and Californians
everywhere -- will join together in meeting these challenges. How we proceed
will tell us a great deal about the prospects for our state in the years
ahead.
Ronald M. George is chief justice of California and chairman of the state
Judicial Council.
Copyright © 2009, The
Los Angeles Times
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* * *
He has combined with others
to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to
our constitution, and
unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to
their acts of
pretended legislation. - Declaration of Independence
"..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate,
tireless
=0 A
minority keen to set brush
fires in people's minds.." - Samuel Adams
"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is
striking at the root." --
Henry David Thoreau
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