Chief justice notes problems with the judicial budget
From Judgepedia
March 17, 2009
Maine: Chief justice Leigh Ingalls Saufley of the Maine Supreme Court noted several problems with the judicial budget, calling the State of the Judiciary "precarious". She contends that within the three areas of funding for the judiciary - people, court buildings, and constitutionally required legal services - only the funding for people is directly controllable by the judicial budget. As a result of the need to control costs, positions have been cut or left vacant and the service at courthouses is beginning to suffer.
Another funding problem noted by the chief justice is the inclusion within the judicial budget of indigent legal service costs. "Having judges responsible for the payment of one party’s attorney, and in no way involved in payment or decision-making regarding the other parties, creates the appearance of a conflict of interest that has become intolerable." She continued, "You would never think of putting the prosecutors, the District Attorneys, and Attorneys General, within the Judicial Branch budget." [1]
The full text of Saufley's speech to the legislature can be found here.
