Sometimes it's interesting to imagine, no matter how bad things are now, how they could get a lot worse. For example, what if we got rid of all the lawyers and politicians. Okay, so may that's not a good example.[g] But think, for a second, about what would happen if we didn't have judges and because of this the doors of our courts were closed.
All murderers, rapists, and thieves caught by the police would have to be released because there would be no impartial court to adjudicate the matters. All real property in probate would go to the highest bidder or the person with the biggest gun, whichever came first. All people wanting to adopt children would not have a legal way of doing so. All divorces would be decided by a flip of a coin. If you were hit by someone driving under the influence he or she could just drive away, scot free. If your employer didn't pay your salary there would be nothing you could do. In other words, there would be no rule of law and hence, no justice.
I realize, for some people, this would be paradise. But for most of us, this would be anarchy. And yet, we seem to value the work of judges so lowly that sometimes I think they should form a union and go on strike - just so people could experience the lower quality of life we would all have.
But even worse, if that is possible, imagine if we had judges, but they were uniformly lacking in education, experience, good judicial temperament, and plain common sense. Imagine going before a judge who worried more about how to send his or her children to a good college than whether you got a fair trial. Imagine a judge who supplemented her income by taking a second job working for a large corporation. Then imagine trying to sue that corporation in her courtroom. Imagine coming before a judge that had flunked out of law school in Grenada and then is asked to judge whether you go to prison or pay huge fines. Imagine coming before a judge so full of rage and frustration that he routinely needs to take sedatives to get through the day.
We aren't anywhere near being that bad. Yet. In the years I've worked here in the Judiciary I have had nothing but respect and admiration for the high quality of men and women who serve as judges. But it won't always be this way if we aren't willing to pay them (Checkout the California university system. At one time, it was a model of what higher education can and should be. Now, due to decades of declining funding, the best and the brightest professors have left. The system is a shambles and will probably never reach the level it was before.)
There is no magic bullet. There is no "doing more with less" when what you have is already too little. Voodoo economics has not, does not, and will not work. The bottom line is, if you want excellence, you have to pay for it.
Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!
