J.A.I.L. News Journal
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Los Angeles, California                              November 6, 2006
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The Inherent Right of ALL People to Alter or Reform Abusive Government.
The Right Upon Which All Other Rights Depend
Judges Suffering From Intimidation
 
 
Jurist Legal News and Research
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/11/oconnor-assails-attacks-on-judicial.php
Monday, November 06, 2022

O'Connor assails attacks on judicial independence
Joshua Pantesco at 9:57 AM ET

[JURIST] Judicial independence has been threatened by legislative and executive branches of government across the country, former US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor [OYEZ profile] told a group of 800 judges, lawyers, and others at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference [official website] Friday. On Tuesday, South Dakota voters will vote on a referendum known as the "Jail 4 Judges" initiative, which would establish a grand jury with the power to indict judges based on their official legal determinations. An O'Connor editorial, published in October by the Wall Street Journal, warned of the South Dakota referendum as an example of judicial intimidation [JURIST report].

Earlier this year, both O'Connor and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg [OYEZ profile] said they had received death threats [JURIST report] after Republican politicians criticized judges for citing foreign law or being "activist" in their rulings. US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has acknowledged that the security of judges is becoming a national concern [JURIST report]. O'Connor, the first woman ever on the US Supreme Court, retired in January [JURIST report] after 25 years on the bench. AP has more.

Sandra Day O'Connor said she fears judges are under growing political attack nationwide.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061105/ap_on_re_us/o_connor_judicial_autonomy

"I'm increasingly concerned about the current climate of challenge to judicial independence," O'Connor told a gathering of state judges from around the country Friday. "Unhappiness with judges today is at a very intense level."

The judiciary is the weakest of the three branches of government, she said, and therefore the one with "the greatest need to be defended."

The executive and legislative branches have become the attackers, so "the principal defenders are going to have to be the people of this country," with lawyers taking the lead, she said.

O'Connor, who retired in January after 24 years on the nation's highest court, spoke just days before South Dakota voters consider the "Jail 4 Judges" initiative. It would create a citizens' grand jury that could authorize lawsuits or criminal prosecutions against judges based on their rulings.

Colorado voters will decide whether to limit judges on the state's highest courts to 10 years in office, a measure that would remove five of the state's seven Supreme Court justices within two years.

 
"Who stands to be hurt if Amendment E is not passed?"
Would it be the South Dakota Bar Association and lawyers? NO!
Would it be the South Dakota Legislature? NO!
Would it be the insurance companies and agencies?  NO!
  IT WOULD BE THE VOTERS OF SOUTH DAKOTA
WHO WOULD BE HURT.
Vote YES on Amendment E for your future and your own good!
 
J.A.I.L.- Judicial Accountability Initiative Law - www.jail4judges.org
Our South Dakota site: www.SD-JAIL4Judges.org
Contribute to J.A.I.L. at P.O. Box 207, N. Hollywood, CA 91603
See our active flash, http://www.jail4judges.org/Flash.htm
JAIL is a unique addition to our form of gov't. heretofore unrealized.
JAIL is powerful! JAIL is dynamic! JAIL is America's ONLY hope!
E-Group sign on at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jail4judges/join
Get involved at [email protected]
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"..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless 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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