Ga. Chief Justice: Tight Budgets Put Some Courts on Edge of Abyss
Georgia Chief Justice Carol Hunstein used her first State of the Judiciary address to warn of a growing case backlog that is threatening the constitutional rights of civil litigants and criminal defendants.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Political Insider blog characterized the speech as akin to “a come-to-Jesus speech on the implications of funding cuts in the courtroom.”
Hunstein said the judiciary’s share of state appropriations is shrinking even as superior court caseloads jumped by 20 percent in the last five years, the Associated Press reports. County budget cuts compound the problems.
Budgets are so tight, Hunstein said, that the courts have laid off staffers, frozen salaries and closed law libraries. At the state supreme court, a reduced budget forced the return of a “desperately needed” copy machine. The courts in Hall County close one day a month, while Fulton County courts are considering more frequent closings.
“Some court systems [are] on the edge of an abyss,” she said. “The precedence that criminal cases must take threatens the civil justice system.”
