By Kimberly Atkins
The Daily Record Newswire
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said the nation’s courts are in crisis because of funding cuts.
And what’s worse, legal practitioners don’t seem to be paying attention.
"No one, not even lawyers and judges, understands what a financial bind the courts are in," O'Connor told the ABA Journal after speaking on a panel at the ABA Annual Meeting last week in Toronto.
What’s more, O’Connor said, "[t]hey're not ready for the political fights" that may be needed to return funding to the country’s judicial systems to adequate levels.
"We have to wake them up."
O’Connor urged legal practitioners and judges to educate legislators on the funding problems, urging lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to act.
"We need advocacy on this issue by lawyers at all levels,” she said, suggesting that business leaders be brought in as well because legislators "will listen to what they say.”
"Make sure to drop in some sob stories,” O’Connor suggested.
And as a last resort: “If things get really bad, buy some beer and Mexican food, and have them all over.”
