The National Courts Monitor was born more than a decade ago as the California Courts Monitor amid historic cuts to the Golden State’s court system. Courthouses closed and justice consolidated. Much attention was rightly focused on the criminal courts where delay and backlog meant more time in jail or unjust outcomes. That said, we felt that a society based on the rule of law becomes an at-risk society when basic civic disputes took years and years to resolve. Such a system empowers the rich over the poor and creates perverse strategy advantages for those who would value process over outcome. It also encourages folks to look outside the justice system for resolution — always a risky situation.
We soon found that, while California may have the nation’s biggest civil justice rationing challenge, it was hardly alone. Across the United States, the fear and loathing of “getting sued” has become a fearsome silent guest at many kitchen-table discussion. It is one thing to fear justice, but quite another to fear the “system” being used to bankrupt or torment the innocent. So we created the Washington, D.C. based National Courts Monitor in January of 2014 with the goal of curating and distributing stories that illustrate the trend — “your daily ration of civil justice rationing.” We call it “SEO in the public interest” and it’s been a big part of our reporting.
As an editor’s note, the Courts Monitor group is not trying in any way to offer a comprehensive report. Google is really good at that. What we hope to do is offer some moments of clarity amid the static. In particular, we hope to underscore that our civil justice crisis is making things worse in other national emergencies, like immigration and housing and environmental conflict. In criminal courts, we all see that justice delayed is justice denied. We feel that’s also true in civil cases, where years and years can pass with futures very much in flux.
We began 2025 with cautious optimism. Certainly the new case-acceleration policies in California, the “two-year rule,” illustrate that government is taking the civil emergency seriously. Granted, the judicial exemptions will prove tempting but it seems promising. Now, we also see that President Trump is challenging the civil courts to address his vision of the nation’s future. We can safely guess that many Americans will soon realize how the rule of law is actually the bedrock of any democracy.
– The NCM Team