American Justice at a Crossroads: Opening Remarks
2010; Volume: 11; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1536-3090
Autores Tópico(s)Legal and Constitutional Studies
ResumoThis is an important conference, and you honor us by your presence. The American Constitution begins very elegantly, “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union,” and then there is set forth a series of goals. Common defense, national security, peace at home, and domestic tranquility are all there, but as each person here knows, the first goal identified is to establish justice. When one reflects on that, it was purposeful because if there is not justice there will be no domestic tranquility, and there would probably be nothing to defend. So to reflect on our justice system, to improve it, to ensure its health, is a very noble undertaking. Conferences such as this are an integral part of that. We come together, mindful of what Hugo Black called our federalism: that there are two systems of justice. And so today, we will be reflecting on the federal system and the state system. How timely it is to reflect on the state system, especially here in California, although we are gathered together from many states, but California at times is a harbinger of things to come in other states. So when we, with a sense of lamentation and loss, see such things as furloughs, court holidays, and courthouse closures, we see that obviously budgetary considerations can very seriously impact the ability of our court system to provide for justice. But we also know, as we gather here under the umbrella of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, that we need to be very smart. Echoed in virtually all if not every single state’s rules of civil procedure, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure number one says this is to provide, or the rules are to be construed so as to provide, for the speedy and efficient resolution of disputes. We have seen at the federal level the Supreme Court of the United States struggling—and somewhat controversially—within bench and bar and others very concerned about issues of access to the justice system and how we do civil justice and be smart about it. Interpretations of Rule 8(a), the federal pleading rule, have been the subject of much litigation, and very controversial decisions
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