Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick said that if next year's budget for the judiciary is cut 3 percent, as the governor has requested, "I don't think we can run the justice system."
Already, courts throughout the state are suspending jury trials for a month this winter. Judicial branch employees have been offered unpaid furloughs, Broderick said. The judicial branch is operating without seven judges - a number Broderick described as extraordinary - with positions at almost every level left open by Gov. John Lynch.
"I don't remember any time in my now 36 years as a lawyer and judge in New Hampshire when there've been seven vacancies at one time," Broderick said.
At the request of the governor, Broderick laid out in a recent letter a series of steps the judicial branch could take to further cut its budget. The top of the list: holding open until the summer the Supreme Court vacancy that will be created when Justice Richard Galway steps down in February.
With the national and state economy on the slide, New Hampshire's 2009 revenue is expected to fall $250 million short of projections, prompting wide-ranging cuts across state government, with more likely to come.
"There are no bad guys here," Broderick said. "The state is facing a genuine financial crisis, I think, so the judicial branch wants to do its fair share."
But Broderick said the judicial branch is different from other parts of government because it has a constitutional obligation to administer justice.
"As I've said to the governor on more than one occasion, I can't say, as some can, 'Let's not do the highway this year,' " he said.
While the economic downturn has restrained the state budget, it has driven an increasing number of people into court, Broderick said. Divorce cases with alimony or support orders, domestic violence cases, and landlord-tenant cases are all on the rise, he said.
It is unclear whether Lynch intends to leave Galway's seat open for any stretch of time. Lynch spokesman Colin Manning said the governor will fill the position "as soon as a quality candidate can be identified by the judicial selection commission."
Broderick said the Supreme Court can run with four justices instead of five, as it did when he was recuperating from injuries for several months in 2002. But it would take a toll. The remaining judges would have a heftier workload, stretching out the process. And a bench of four makes possible ties of 2-2, which could be fixed by having cases reargued, potentially with a retired judge sitting in the fifth seat, Broderick said.
Broderick said the Supreme Court seat made his list of possible cuts for a couple of reasons, one being "in fairness to the trial courts, who have been running on empty for some time."
Moreover, he and the rest of the judicial branch are trying to avoid staff layoffs, which he said would cause problems over the long term.
"We have been trying to find every dollar we can that doesn't damage the system," he said.
Broderick is also concerned that judicial branch employees could lose a scheduled 5.5 percent pay raise while other state employees do not, a possibility he called "decidedly unfair."
Such a scenario is likely because, while judicial and legislative branch pay can be tweaked by an act of the Legislature, other state employees have their pay raises guaranteed by a contract with the State Employees Association. For the pay raises of more than 10,000 state employees to be deferred, the contract would have to be renegotiated and put to a fresh vote.
"If everyone suffers, you're not going to hear me complain," Broderick said. But, he said, it would hurt morale if the judicial branch took a toll while others didn't. "We are the smallest branch of government. . . . We would be contributing 60 percent of the rollback on raises."
Manning said Lynch continues "talking with leaders of the unions to see about deferring the pay." Meanwhile, a special session of the Legislature next Wednesday may deal with pay raises, Manning said. (next page »)
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Comments
anonymous letters
By Anonymous - 12/11/2008 - 3:53 pmGreat to see the people recognize the faults of the NH judicial. Everyone is right on target and it is best you do not identify yourselves because you would be in for reprisals from the courts because even though they are public figures they do not think the first amendment applies to them. That is their Hubris attitude.
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One judge even goes to a swingers club so the rumor goes.
By Anonymous - 12/11/2008 - 12:05 pmWhich one? This ought to be interesting.
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To:Pay Raise
By Anonymous - 12/11/2008 - 9:47 amLets be real. Its a broken system and Broderick is in charge. Why he isn't held accountable remains to be seen. I join the hard working citizens in expressing outrage about these slugs in state jobs cashing while the rest of us suffer.
There is absolutely no integrity in the NH court system. They do what they want. The last few years of reading the Monitor has shown time and time again, that those who are connected are either not charged or the charges dropped and the rest of the us are subject to the whimes of they corrupt system.
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Pay Raise
By Anonymous - 12/11/2008 - 6:00 amJustice Brodrick stated that the Justice Department employees may lose the 5.5% pay raise that other state employees may get as being unfair and that the SEA will defend the raises for the rest of the state but not them based on the negotiated contract. The rest of the state employees are REQUIRED to give a percentage of their income to the SEA for this contract (income tax) which sounds like to him, they don't have to pay or this would not even be an issue.
Is if fair they reap the benefits others are forced to pay for?
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Broderick's letter to the Governor discussing possible ways to r
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 10:44 pmhttp://www.nhbar.org/uploads/pdf/BudgetCutsLetter120808.pdf
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Fix the Courts
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 8:28 pmThe poor court people, they have no problem taking other peoples money. Both intentionally and un-intentionally over charging for child support. When I read the RSA covering how it is determined and how they were not following it, the judge said "were going to do it this way". Then they figured my ex's income on me, overcharging me $400 a month and taking it out of my pay leaving me $325 a week to live on. I'm not on the "top paid state employees list", where is Judge Brodrick on that list, top 5 maybe?
Your courts strips me of my military pension based on false statements given under oath, in which the judge said "this is not fraud".
Is the reason the family division requires so many people go to therapy based on the fact that the Administrative Judge of the Family divisions wife is a therapist?
Your courts are "decidedly unfair", another term for "judicial discretion" not the fact that you may lose a pay raise. Your courts don't care about my money, why should I care about theirs? Here's something to think about "decidedly unfair", If I was behind on child support, I'd be thrown in jail until I was caught up but since I have been forced to overpay by nearly $4,000, I can't get a dime of that back.
Yes, I know the systems broke and yes I know how to fix it. First I would start with requiring the judges to read the Constitution and the checks and balances our founding fathers put in it, something they are not very familiar with, and then maybe the RSA's that our Legisature passes so they don't have to legislate their own.
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More to worry about than a 3% cut
By dave coltin - 12/10/2008 - 8:07 pmBroderick may have more to worry about than a 3% budget cut. Last December federal judge Joseph Laplante asked the U.S. attorney's office in Concord to investigate the refusal of the state justice system to release witness statements in a long-standing state prosecution which later became a federal civil rights case. One of the claims Judge Laplante is asking the U.S. attorney to consider is to take away the attorney discipline system and have it handled out of state by an impartial body, but still paid for out of Broderick's budget. For more information contact davecoltin@netscape.net.
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More to worry about than a 3% cut
By dave coltin - 12/10/2008 - 8:02 pmBroderick may have more to worry about than a 3% budget cut. Last December federal judge Joseph Laplante asked the U.S. attorney's office in Concord to investigate the refusal of the state justice system to release witness statements in a long-standing state prosecution which later became a federal civil rights case. One of the claims Judge Laplante is asking the U.S. attorney to consider is to take away the attorney discipline system and have it handled out of state by an impartial body, but still paid for out of Broderick's budget. For more information contact davecoltin@netscape.net.
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Need for Funding.
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 5:41 pmYou people need to support this request. They have to replace the Court Cops who recently left employment. Barney Fife the one that shot himself in the foot with an unathorized firearm is needs to be replaced or terrorists will surely take over a court house. The Court Cop who hired citizens who were in court on some personal business have sex while he filmed it also needs to be replaced. He evidently went to Hollywood to participate in RoboCop and Police Academy 10.
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ToRE: Believe it.
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 5:04 pmYou are so right on these needless kinds of cases. Just recently a Judge in Keene jailed a man for not sitting down fast enough.
http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/nhinsider/vpost?id=3109548
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RE: Believe it.
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 4:07 pmJustice Brodrick might be an honest man, but that does not make him a business man. Has Brodrick talked to the clerks that work in the courts? These people work hard and have to listen daily to the people complain about the court system. Maybe, he could get some suggestions from the clerks on how to cut the budget? If judges applied common sense, then the State budget could be reduced as a whole. Look at the recent case over the fifty cent tokens. The State was not even losing fifty cents because the guy bought the tokens, but the State paid to prosecute the guy and then house him for three days to make him pay a fine for using the tokens. How much of a problem do these tokens really pose and how long would the problem exist, considering there is a limited amount of tokens that were made and sold by the State. Look at my case. My bail was revoked and the State paid to incarcerate me for six weeks before the court dismissed the charges. The judge had put the charges, that allegedly warranted the bail conditions, on hold, because he wanted to see if the charges could be dismissed based upon my freedom of speech defense. Prior to my bail revocation, the Merrimack County Attorney's Office had informed me that it was okay for the police chief to violate his oath of office and hire his inexperienced daughter onto his police department, without posting the job. And, the day my bail was revoked, the court dismissed charges against me for vindictive behavior. The court ruled that I had an in your face attitude because I told the court the bail conditions were excessive and unconstitutional. What happened to the "clear and convincing evidence that a person poses a danger" statute requirement? The courts could save the State money by abiding by the State's laws!!!!
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justice not cheap
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 4:07 pmwfant to save money, END PROHIBITION. If judges care as much about justice as they do their golf club membership maybe they should take a cut in pay to do the same job or more. The system is corrupt and eager to spend your tax dollars on throwing our family members in institutions to pad their wallets. It takes alot of money to incarcrate someone convicted of a victimless crime .where there is no victim there is no crime. Judge Broderick should work on figuring a way to save money rather than spend it.It is time for all of us to save not just the poor.
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Budget Cuts
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 3:55 pmDon't cut funding to schools!!! If we don't educate our children to the best of our ability now, this judge will just have to see them in his court room at a later date. The Governor has already cut school funding for this year, let us all hope and pray that he doesn't cut it for next year!!!!
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Posters
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 3:55 pmMaybe the some of the posters on here should run for Governor, they all seem to know how to run the court systems and know how to fix the faults in it...
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Most judges could not make it in private practice
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 3:03 pmMost if not all judges are are poor lawyers, in fact you have the drunk in Candia, you have a judge who is married dating a carpenter in Mass and then there are the judges tripping over there ego's and lets not forget judges who harbor people accused of help murder someone and then whats her name who hid her husbanbs assets. The courts have one speed in NH slow. The people who run the courts are lazy and no bright at all. They received there jobs by tenure not brains.
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Believe It
By Paul M - 12/10/2008 - 1:49 pmWith Justice Broderick, you have a life long democrat telling Governor Lynch the painfull truth anf the governor does not appreciate it. Well, someone has to do it. As far as salary goes, Justice Broderick could be making at least twice what he is making now if he went into private practice.
I may not agree with Justice Broderick's politics but I do know he is an honest man. Believe it or not we do have quite a few of them here in NH and if Justice Broderick is telling the Governor to look elsewhere for cuts, perhaps the Governor should listen.
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Family Court Docket Will Expand
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 1:39 pmJust wait until you have same-sex marriage (and divorce and other same-sex "family" matters that go with it) in New Hampshire. That will help clog the Family Court docket and increase court funding requirements.
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So these guys can discuss
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 1:27 pmSo these guys can discuss and contemplate the most abstract of legal points but can't "balance the checkbook"?!?!? Embarrassing
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maybe if one of the judges actually did a full days work ?
By Damkeeper - 12/10/2008 - 1:26 pmYes, that would be an improvement. How much do they make? Too much. How much do they work? Not enough. The few times I drive by our county Superior Court, the parking lot is usually almost empty.
Justice is pretty hard to come by anywhere in New Hampshire. And maybe if these judges, when they do work, would stop suspending fines and actually have people pay them, the court system wouldn't be short of funds.
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Judges Conduct in this state.
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 1:25 pmOne of them, Franklin Jones, sexually assaulted five female co-workers at the AG's Office Conference on Sexual and Domestic Violence. Broderick himself was arrested for slapping his adult son in the face seven times. Conveniently the charges were dropped. I don't recommend any of us peasants try that. We would be jailed in nothing flat despite the circumstances. Thayer was forced to resign for a variety of inproprieties, and perhaps most famous of all was Fairbanks who stole millions and was allowed to disappear on PR bail, despite over twenty years of law enforcement having knowledge of him molesting teenage boys in his chamber in Newport. One who recently retired from the Concord District Court also have numerous skeletons in his closet. The sad part, is that these are the people who sit in Judgment on us mere peasants.
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Amazement
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 1:16 pmI had no idea NH had so many people that were intimately familiar with the day to day operations of the NH Judicial system AND possessed the ability to do a much better job at managing it. How lucky we all are! I foresee an end to this problem soon!
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Re:3 percent cut
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 12:06 pmThey don;t do much you could cut 50% if they did a days work.
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The bleak court and corrution
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 12:02 pmThe court system is filled with corruption and collusion. From the top all the way down with both favors and good ole boy networks.
They may not ask for money up front but to truly win a case in this state you have to be plugged in and NH has more judges cheating on there spouses than any other state in the USA. One judge even goes to a swingers club so the rumor goes.
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Proper Scheduling could seriously increase efficiency.
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 11:57 amEveryday in every NH court there are dozen of people paid with taxpayers funds, ranging from Judges, Bailiffs, Police, Publice Defenders, Sheriffs sitting all day with nothing to do. This is not there fault directly. They obviously have no idea how to properly schedule. Anyone who has ever been to a Doctors or Dentist Office knows that you may have a short wait but certainly wouldn't wait all morning, afternoon or all day to be seen. Yet in Courts around the state people employed bt taxpayers are paid to wait all morning, afternoon or all day due to poor scheduling. It is obvious that this is due to poor management. A business would be bankrupt in little to no time, if they practiced the same lack of proper scheduling. Where is the Leadership on this issue? There is none.
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How Much?
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 11:24 amI'd be interested in hearing how much these judges make. That should have been included in this story.
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He is an elitist--he is too good to work
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 10:44 amThe judges are paid a salary. They can work day and night to get their work done just like everyone else in the real world. All he does is ask for more money to solve his problems. The people in this state are suffering and paying too much for a bad system. His rulings make me doubt he does understand the constituion and a right for a speedy trail. He is bad for the state.
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I love it
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 10:28 amI love how when times get tough people want nothing more than to see others in misery. People sit here and say "start with an over haul top down...blah blah blah, lay them offf..." Lets not forget these people have families too, and need to survive also. The people who are at the top of their departments in the state have been with the state for many years, which is considered loyalty. They spent many years working in the same "company" I.e. the state, and now it is paying off for them. They sat back and watched many many others make millions doing the same job, but they stayed with the state, and guess what now it pays off for them. Grow up and stop saying "make cuts from the top down," when you don't even know what you are talking about.
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3 percent cut
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 10:25 amMany NH folks are losing their jobs and facing 100% pay cuts.
Three percent is nothing and the justice department should meet that without any whining or press releases.
The court should be creative with their budget and stop prosecuting non-violent victimless cases. That would be the correct application of Constitutional Law and save the taxpayers a lot of money. A libertarian judge would solve everything.
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courts
By epphonehome - 12/10/2008 - 9:38 ammaybe if one of the judges actually did a full days work there would not such a back log in the courts system they show up when they feel like it go home when ever thay want if you and i did that we all be fired . the state of new hampshire need a major over hall of the judicial branch starting with the top down . i am not a lawyer but i shure could do a better job the most of the judges that we have today.
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Waste in the Courts
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 9:00 amThere is no doubt the courts need help. However, it needs help in the managment arena before any additional funding is ever given. The Governor and Legislators ought to go visit a few courts a month unnounced and they will see wasted hearings in which the deals are already determinined and needless hearings regarding very petty issues. This goes on a daily basis.
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Elitist?
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 8:40 amWhat does elitism have to do with anything? Broderick doesn't have to be "in touch" with New Hampshire - his job requires that he apply law in concordance with the constitution. I'd hope justices not be held to the whims of the people.
He's saying they can't run the justice system, which should be of significant concern to anyone who cares about due process.
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Out of touch
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 8:39 amhey Broderick, you want more money? Clean up the system. The Judiciary is full of loose cannons that do nothing but waste time and taxpayer money. The issues that plague the courts are in the paper every day but I have yet to see any move by its leadership to correct such issues. All you ever say is that you need more Judges and you need more money. Isnt that the exact mentality that put this state in its current position? Clean up your system Broderick.....
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I this for real?
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 8:29 amBroderick seems to forget that Lynch appointed three judges last year and there has been a sweeping change within the judiciary to create family divisions in an effort to ease the workload of the judges. Im not even certain how many Marital masters the state has employed to date, at over 100k per year plus benefits. Broderick, figure out how to tighten your belt. maybe your antiquated paper system needs to be brought into the electronic age, for starts.....Hey, maybe if the Superior court system was audited as how knowledgable the judges were in the matter of law, and not used their judicial power inappropriately, it would reduce litigation and appeals in the system? How about this, what if you appealed to the legislature to enact new laws that will reduce the need for litigation withijn the family division? What the state needs is a business man to run the Judicial branch of government, not a lawyer....
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all unclassified employee should take pay cut
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 8:24 amAs you know the unclasified employees salaries are negotciated. Let these peolpe take a 3 % cut to make up short fall. Lok at the exploding salaries of the state heads.
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Court financing
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 8:09 amPerhaps this fiscal crisis is why ordinary people have been denied access to the courts? The Supreme Court just moved to a "new procedure" for obtaining court transcripts for appeals, which was privatized and sent to NYC. There is a MINIMUM downpayment of $1250.00 for a transcript. How can ordinary people afford that? No night court (despite being demanded by the legislature years ago). Legitimate appellate issues go unheard or unresolved due to lack of funds...how "just" is that?
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Elitist
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 7:38 amBroderick is so out of touch with the people of New Hampshire and Earth. Maybe Lynch is trying to get him to retire. That would be great for all of us.
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Re:The bleak court of Broderick
By Anonymous - 12/10/2008 - 5:55 amIf the State was not run run by a GM type union we would have lower taxes. If The State would stop bring people in to the court system for just being stupid we could save lots of money. We need leadership, cut the work force layoff people we are sick of paying for a fake system. How much money did you guys was on the Dods trial. You must be stupid so under your system you could be charged for stealing from the people.
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