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Monday, June 18, 2007

Courts - "The slow wheels of justice in Ohio"

The Cleveland Plain Dealer yesterday had a story by Reginald Fields on how long it takes the Ohio Supreme Court to issue a ruling after oral arguments. Some quotes:

A Plain Dealer analysis of court opinions from orally argued cases from 2004 to 2006 shows that the amount of time it took to turn out majority decisions increased from an average of five months per case in 2004 to seven months last year. * * *

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, who is reluctant to talk about the inner workings of the court, acknowledges that the pace has been a rising concern for him and a source of finger-pointing among the justices. But he says it's an issue that he - despite his leadership position - is helpless to control.

"Any justice who has a pattern of taking a longer period of time than others knows the court's concern, they know the chief justice's concern, they know the concern of their colleagues," Moyer said.

"But one thing we have to remember is each of the justices is an independently statewide elected official."

The justices typically discuss and vote on a case the same day it is argued, though in rare cases, some later change their positions. Also that day, a justice in the majority is randomly selected to write the court's opinion. * * *

[Justice Evelyn Lundberg] Stratton, who is now among the most efficient justices at turning out opinions, said she puts a premium on speed.

"I just believe that it is very important that the public gets a timely opinion," she said.

The closest the justices have to a time standard is an unwritten rule for the majority author to have a rough draft of an opinion six weeks after the oral argument.

After that, when the justices meet every other week, Moyer asks for status reports.

The chief says he has discussed the court's efficiency with individual justices and as a group. And so far this year, the court is demonstrating a much quicker pace.

It's "peer pressure to keep the cases moving," Moyer explains, "but it's only that, peer pressure."

[Thanks to The Volokh Conspiracy for the link.]

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 18, 2007 09:41 AM
Posted to Courts in general