"Rushmore to Judgment"

Rushmore to Judgment
South Dakota ups the ante in the national war over judges.

America's judges would like to write off last year's anti-court orgy as a political spasm. Tom ("Judges need to be intimidated") DeLay is on the back bench, the testy Supreme Court confirmation hearings are over, and the judge in Terri Schiavo's case no longer needs a deputy to escort him every time he walks his dog.

But better times aren't coming back soon. The newest front in the war on the courts is being fought in South Dakota, where, in the shadow of Mt. Rushmore, a group called "J.A.I.L. 4 Judges" is promoting one of the most radical threats to justice this side of the Spanish Inquisition. It's extreme and it's incoherent, but it's got more than 40,000 petition signatures—and it will go to the state's voters as a constitutional amendment in November. A national network of supporters is waiting in the wings, threatening to export the revolution to other states if they do well this fall.

The group's proposed measure would wipe out a basic doctrine called judicial immunity that dates back to the 13th century, protecting judges from personal liability for doing their job ruling on the cases before them. A special grand jury—essentially a fourth branch of government—would be created to indict judges for a string of bizarre offenses that include "deliberate disregard of material facts," "judicial acts without jurisdiction," and "blocking of a lawful conclusion of a case," along with judicial failure to impanel a jury for infractions as minor as a dog-license violation. After three such "convictions," the judge would be fired and docked half of his or her retirement benefits for good measure.

Slate

I didn't notice this article posted anywhere else, but I thought it might be of general interest.

That South Dakota is a little state making an awful racket lately

I don't think so. They appear to be a right wing sicko religious commune with coat hangers as their commune symbol.

constitution. I know there are good people there but I think this state is sicker and dumber than Alaska can be and I thought that was impossible.

Alaska isn't NEARLY as bad as South Dakota. We've got some fairly sane people here. I think it's part of living in an environment where being eaten is a very real threat :D

We're solidly red in the elected spectrum, but that's almost purely because we have a bunch of free-state corportationists , and NOT because we have crazy bible-swinging yutzes.

Decry us for our idiot govorner, his poodleheaded daughter the senator, our YEE HAW oil cowboy other senator, and our legislature that has no idea what to do with the state, but don't compare us to South Dakota. That's like comparing Oregon to Utah. it just don't work!

decry the gov. Good things might be coming. :)

from the article:

How did this Internet-age fun house turn into South Dakota's headache? In part because it took fewer than 34,000 signatures to get on that state's ballot, and initiative states are the logical playgrounds for fringe groups. But J.A.I.L.'s organizers don't even pretend to have grievances with South Dakota judges. Instead, they paid door-knockers to ask people if they were mad about Roe v. Wade or last year's Kelo decision upholding local eminent-domain powers—or if they just wanted to hold judges accountable. (Never mind that state judges can't overturn Roe, or that in Kelo the Supreme Court deferred to legislators to set their own land-use policies.)