civil justice system

August 26th, 2015

Whether they know it or not, in November, Pennsylvanians will cast their votes for (among other positions) three seats on the bench of the commonwealth’s Supreme Court. This is the first time three such positions have been vacant at any one time in the Supreme …

October 23rd, 2013

On October 15, as a response to the now-resolved government shutdown, a group of public interest organizations co-signed a letter to congressional leaders urging them to “please ensure that this [civil justice] system is not further crippled in any respect as negotiations over the shutdown …

April 3rd, 2013

Of the three branches of government, the judicial branch receives by far the least attention. With the exception of high-profile cases like the Affordable Care Act and Proposition 8 (dealing with same-sex marriage in California), the judiciary lacks the glamor of the presidency and the …

September 12th, 2012

On July 11, this blog published a post titled “Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied,” which dealt with the shortage of judges (and thus backlog of civil cases) in Union County, New Jersey. Upon further research, it has become painfully clear that this problem is not …

July 11th, 2012

As of April of 2012, courts in Union County, New Jersey had 863 civil cases in backlog, that is, 863 cases that could not be heard because there are no judges to preside. This is the largest backlog in this county’s history and will now …

December 15th, 2011

The international weekly newspaper “The Economist” published an article in its September 29, 2011 issue about the judicial branch of the government, calling it “the feeblest branch,” due to the lack of funding and public and media attention it receives relative to legislators and executives. …