(JCW) A recent communique from the Alliance of California Judges You have probably received an e-mail survey from the recently created Commission on the Future of California’s Court System asking your opinion about how best to improve the branch. You may be tempted to ignore this survey; after all, over the last four years, you’ve […]
November 7, 2014
Imagine producing a flash mob of 500 court employees and members of the public with forty thousand watts of music power pulling up on two semi-tractor trailers in civic center plaza facing the supreme court building at lunch time on a spring weekday to send this message exactly as delivered below. Every media outlet in the world […]
October 30, 2014
This past Monday we saw a glimpse of some positive movement when Martin Hoshino told the judicial council “I hope they feel as good about me as I feel about them a year from now, after I’ve had the luxury of making some zero-sum decisions that affect their workplace and their lives,” For those who might […]
October 27, 2014
This past Saturday, October 25th marks our 4th year of tracking the most corrupt institution in state government. You’ll note that this is not an event we’re celebrating. We had hoped that by now the other two branches of government would have used their considerable wherewithal to exercise their respective roles of checks and balances. […]
October 24, 2014
Only four years ago, amid great fanfare, the former AOC heralded the opening of the Plumas/Sierra Regional Courthouse in Portola. This 6500-square-foot courthouse, which features a “prominent transparent glazed entry vestibule and tall clerestoried lobby” along with its single courtroom, was built at a cost of $4.7 million. In the AOC’s words, it “exemplifies the […]
July 29, 2014
On July 29, the Judicial Council will vote to “retire” the name of the Administrative Office of the Court and henceforth refer to the AOC as “the Judicial Council staff.” The reasons for the change, and for the haste with which it’s being made, remain muddled. Our branch leaders claim that the change is […]
July 23, 2014
Last Thursday, the Judicial Council’s Rules and Projects Committee (RUPRO) met to take up the issue of the renaming of the Administrative Office of the Courts, as requested by the Chief Justice. The RUPRO meeting, conducted telephonically, was slated to run an hour. It lasted only 15 minutes. As expected, the committee voted unanimously […]
June 20, 2014
Nobody is above the law. Well, except sometimes, when you’re a California judge. We generally make it a point to shy away legal cases and focus on what is wrong with the judicial branch. Mostly what is wrong with the judicial branch can be found in San Francisco. However……sometimes we see a series of incidents […]
April 14, 2014
The Chief Justice made a startling statement in a recent television interview: “General funds support for the third branch of government has failed. It’s absolutely a skeleton of what it used to be.” Her remarks stand in stark contrast with those of her predecessor in a speech he gave back in 2009: “It was anticipated […]
March 18, 2014
The Alliance of California Judges has learned that the AOC is now projecting a dramatic shortfall in the Trial Court Trust Fund for the current fiscal year. Apparently, revenues from fees will fall far short of the AOC’s expectations. According to the latest figures, the AOC’s original revenue predictions were off by $70 million. This […]
March 12, 2014
A letter by Judge Kenneth So on Judicial Council letterhead dated March 7 was sent yesterday to every judge in California in a “Court News Update” email. Judge So claims that we’ve given you misleading information about how the AOC runs its business. We disagree, and we can back up what we said—with the AOC’s […]
March 4, 2014
Trying to get information out of the AOC can seem like playing Go Fish with a temperamental child. You have to ask for exactly the right thing in exactly the right way, and even then you might not get it. Often, the AOC claims that it doesn’t keep the kinds of records you’re looking for. […]
January 16, 2014
The Chief Justice recently released the AOC’s three year blueprint for California’s judicial branch. I say it is the AOC’s three year blueprint because the chief herself credits the AOC for all of the hard work they did in coming up with this plan. Incredibly short on specifics, the three year blueprint outlines the desire […]
November 21, 2013
The below was sent out to media organizations and represents the comments on the proposed open meeting rule of court by the Alliance of California Judges. If you haven’t submitted a comment regarding the proposed open meeting rule then you are too late. They’ve taken it down because they didn’t desire overwhelming negative feedback but […]
November 6, 2013
The Quest for Justice in California – An autobiography by Former Chief Justice Ronald M. George When your ego knows no bounds and you’re being tagged as the cause of much strife and consternation by your peers, it’s time to jump on the old ‘puter and pen yourself some 800 pages of revisionist history. The […]
October 23, 2013
We provide you with a link to Dan Walters’ column in yesterday’s Sacramento Bee that discusses the formation of the Foundation for Democracy and Justice, a new public education foundation headed up in part by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye. It is our understanding that this charitable foundation will be involved in public education regarding […]
November 12, 2014
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