Maine judicial news

From Judgepedia

News about or affecting the judiciary in Maine.

Judge announces campaign for reelection

Maine: Judge Carol R. Emery announced during a Knox County Republican Women's meeting that she would once a again be running for election. The seat she currently holds and wishes to continue holding is judge for the Knox County Probate Court.^[1]

Maine Supreme Court rules that some parts of sex offender law are unconstitutional

Maine: The Maine Supreme Court declared a provision of the state's sex offender registry unconstitutional. The provision is in a 1999 law that retroactively makes offenders registered since 1982 become registered for life.^[1]

Maine chief justice's statement on the budget

Maine: As the state of Maine is undergoing the final stages of budget review, chief justice Leigh Ingalls Saufley had this to say about the Judicial Branch's part of the budget: "Legislative leadership said it best: this is not a budget any one can be happy about." She suggests that staffing restrictions in the coming year will be felt by the public in reduced court hours and delays in non priority dockets. She called the budget process valuable however, citing the hard work of the Appropriations Committee and the Judiciary Committee, and bipartisan support for improvements to several older courthouses. ^[1]

Chief justice notes problems with the judicial budget

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.

References