Could it be from the hostile work environment and harassment from the holier than thou Judges? To remove Justice Courts from County or City control puts them directly under the wing of the untouchable fastest growing bureaucracy in State government, the Court Administrator's Office. I say leave the Justice Courts alone where a little common sense can still be used.

Again I state that if the Courts are worried about perception that they need to address this widely held opinion.

Our Legal System has nothing to do with what is right or just, only that which is legal. Doing the right and just thing is trumped by what is legal.

I posted this same basic statement yesterday. I wonder if Free Speech is trumped in this forum.

The reason lawyers do what is legal is becuas we are a society governed by laws and not men. Men differ widely in their personal views over what is right--just look at the current political campaigns. Some people think abortion is right and some think it's wrong. In Iran, a party in a court case is subjected to somebody's view of what is "right." That could include allowing the local mullah to sleep with a new bride (not his) or allowing an execution because the accused belongs to the "wrong" tribe, not that he violated anyting "legal." We saw the same thing in the South in the U.S. in the Jonesboro boys case. So watch out or those in power may impose on you what they think is "right" rather than what is legal.
Re; justice courts, any honest city official will tell you the main motivation for those things is to make money. Who can forget a certain mayor who said two years ago a justice court could fund his city with $1 million a year. Is there much justice in a system founded on that principle?

There are two reasons for this proposal:

(1) the 35/85% surcharge on justice court fines the state already takes from local cities and counties isn't enough; and

(2) the judicial branch needs a sacrificial scapegoat or "whipping boy" in its attempt to play politics with the other two branches.

It is simply preposterous to say as the head politician for the judicial branch did today: "There is, in my view, no more pressing problem of public perception regarding Utah's court system than the justice courts."

The politicians in the judicial branch are the ones creating such a perception. It certainly isn't held by the average rank and file citizen. Interesting that polls found on utcourts.gov don't even support the idea that such a perception exists. The politicians are trying desperately to create it.

And, ironically, the proposal will perpetuate some problems by grandfathering in full time judges, some of whom may not be best qualified.

Finally, there are simple, less intrusive alternatives to improve the justice courts while leaving them close to the people and communities. Let's hope the legislature is not fooled by the political smoke screen, and instead has the wisdom to find those alternatives.

Another motivator of this proposal:

Centralization of power -- they at the top must get it away from people and local communities at the bottom who can't be trusted.

I personally find that type of motivation and the belief which seems to support it -- elitist, arrogant and offensive. And dangerous.

Power corrupts -- absolute power corrupts absolutely. Don't centralize power away from the people. Keep us involved on the local level, just improve the system of checks and balances.

Please reconcile the Chief Justice's statement with the statistics which follow.

Here's what she said:

"There is, in my view, no more pressing problem of public perception regarding Utah's court system than the justice courts."

Here are the statistics:

During the five year period ending 6-30-07, there were an average of 113 justice court judges, 70.4 district court judges, and 26.6 juvenile court judges. While justice court judges constitute 58.3% of trial level judges, less than 30% of all complaints filed with the judicial conduct commission during that five year time period were filed against justice court judges.

Seems to me the "perception" is not that geneneral or pressing.