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Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor…
Lack of Court
Funds is an Access-to-Justice Problem
By Jenna Gant
August 15, 2012
Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor speaks with members of the Columbus
Metropolitan Club about court funding.
Courts shouldn’t limit access to justice due to a lack of court
funding, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor along with William Robinson,
president of the American Bar Association, told members of the Columbus
Metropolitan Club (CMC) on Wednesday. It was part of a discussion
with the CMC about the topic “Queries of Justice: A Court Funding
Crisis.”
Chief Justice O’Connor said 42 states, including Ohio, cut their
courts’ budgets in 2011, reducing access to justice for millions of
Americans through layoffs, reduced court hours and other money-saving
measures.
Chief Justice O’Connor said that while courts must contribute their
share to address state and local budget deficits, there are limits to
how far court budgets can be cut.
“We cannot inconvenience Ohio’s citizens by closing our door,” Chief
Justice O’Connor said. “We have to keep the doors open. We have to be
accessible. We can’t curtail the hours because citizens need to access
the courts.”
“This is a sad situation because the general populous doesn’t
understand the role of the courts, the significance of the courts, the
position of the courts in balancing our representative democracy to
assure access to justice and rule of law, which is so essential to our
ongoing society,” Robinson said.
Last year Chief Justice O’Connor established a bi-partisan, 29-member
Task Force on the Funding of Ohio Courts to examine the current
structure and the funding of the judicial branch. She said determining
where the courts currently stand continues to be a challenge.
“Because of the way in which the Ohio judicial system is structured and
funded, there is no collective dollar amount that can easily be
identified that’s dedicated to the judicial system in Ohio,” Chief
Justice O’Connor said. “We do need to find out what the dollar amount
is that is allocated currently for our systems. Are they being
allocated in the most conscientious and responsible way? What are our
priorities?”
Chief Justice O’Connor said the task force and the Ohio Supreme Court
are considering a survey to collect information on the funding of the
state’s courts and find out how much funding local courts receive from
various sources such as grants, fees, and local funds.
“As Ohio’s task force has uncovered, it’s not just a state problem
either. Local courts rely on local funding to keep the doors open, to
keep the lights on, for staffing, salaries, and programming,” Chief
Justice O’Connor said.
“It is a challenge, but it is an opportunity to improve our systems and
improve our delivery of services that improve the lives of our
citizens. I think that’s extremely important,” she added.
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