Litigation

ABA Head Decries ?Justice in Jeopardy?

By Peter Hardin

Some courts are begging for pens. Others require filers to bring their own paper. Children have grown into adults before their custody cases are resolved. A funding axe hovers over legal aid to the poor.

American Bar Association President Stephen N. Zack offers these snapshots from around the country in a forceful commentary in The Hill, entitled “Justice in jeopardy.” Zack writes:

“The words ‘equal justice under law’ are so fundamental to our culture they?re carved in stone above the entrance to the United States Supreme Court. But today, the opportunity to access justice in our courts is becoming as much a luxury as a Louis Vuitton bag.”

Drawing on the first hearing of the ABA Task Force on the Preservation of the Justice System (see Gavel Grab), Zack documents a “state court funding crisis [that] stretches [from] coast to coast.” And if Congress deals a blow to funding of the Legal Services Corporation, access to justice will worsen, he warns.

Not only is access to justice fundamental, Zack adds, it is especially personal for him as part of a family that fled Cuba in 1961; in Cuba, the constitution had the same words about justice as those in the U.S. Constitution. He concludes:

“It takes more than words to protect a democracy. Today?s problems with access to justice threaten America, because they cut off the average person from a basic benefit of our system of government. We cannot fight for the rule of law abroad and lose it here at home. It is time to act. Let?s do it, together.”

The American Bar Association is a partner of Justice at Stake.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 18, 2011 (boomark / email).