National Courts Monitor

Traffic ‘Debtors Prison’ Decried As California Courts Struggle

Updated: June 19, 2015

The San Diego Reader has a story up about how Orange County created a revenue-generating operation from traffic fines, collecting “bail” up front to both discourage challenges and assure court attendance. As with other areas around the nation, the traffic court has become a focal point in both terms of race and ability to pay.

Ken Harrison’s story in the Reader quotes Bill Niles, president of the California Traffic School Association, saying, “This was unconstitutional. Nobody should have to pay the fine before seeing a judge. People have had their cars taken away and their driver’s licenses suspended just because they couldn’t pay the fines. It was like debtors’ prison.”

Read the story here.

NYT Gives Family Detention Camps Front-Page Status

by NCM Staff

Updated: June 16, 2015

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The Sunday New York Times gave migrant detention centers front-page treatment, profiling a big camp in Texas. Activists will no doubt note that the report does not mention the context of the detentions – nearly a half-million migrants await their day in immigration court – or that the “courts” are actually administration employees and part of the justice department.

But there is some notice taken on the lack of lawyers and that some people languish because they can’t post the “bond” to get out. The one amount noted in the report was $1,500.

Says the NYT: “While the number of people crossing the border illegally has dropped sharply this year, families continue to come. Since Oct. 1, more than 17,000 parents and children have been caught along the Southwest border, according to official figures. At the Dilley camp, more than half the detainees are children. Their average age is 9… The centers were designed to hold the women while they fight their cases in the immigration courts, part of the administration’s expansion of family detention to more than 3,000 beds nationwide, from only 95 a year ago.”

We will see if the NYT treatment is enough to make the issue a priority. Read the story here.

Civil Court Watchers Turn Attention To Kansas

by NCM Staff

Posted: June 10, 2015

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In what is shaping up as an historic political showdown, civil court watchers are looking toward Kansas. That’s where Gov. Sam Brownback is, in effect, saying that if a state court strikes down a 2014 law that removed some judicial powers, he will halt court funding.

The New York Times explains that “… the 2014 law took the authority to appoint chief judges for the district courts away from the Supreme Court and gave it to the district courts themselves. It also deprived the state’s highest court of the right to set district court budgets. Critics said the law was an attempt by Mr. Brownback, a Republican, to stack the district courts with judges who may be more favorable to his policies.”

It’s getting uglier by the day. Check out the NYT coverage here.

California Eyes Emergency Rules On ‘Pay-To-Play’ Traffic Courts

by NCM Staff

Updated: June 8, 2015

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The Golden State legislature is among governments statewide considering rapid reforms to traffic court policies in the wake of unrest in places like Furguson, Mo., that spotlighted how some policies send minority residents into a spiral of debt and fees that can lead to jail – usually without any real legal representation along the way.

California lawmakers this week are considering “emergency rules” that, the L.A. Times explains, “… would make it easier for drivers to contest traffic tickets — but will do nothing to help those already saddled with fines and fees they cannot afford to pay, according to lawyers and court officials. The state has added on charges that make the cost of a routine traffic ticket nearly $500, an amount that rapidly inflates when deadlines are missed. Although state courts charge people many fees — raised during the budget crisis — to use the legal system, the outcry has been loudest in the traffic arena.”

The LAT noted that “… lawyers representing the poor have complained that judges in some counties have been requiring drivers to pay the fines as a condition of contesting them, a practice that California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye called “pay to play” and vowed to stop.”

Nearly 5 million California drivers have had their licenses suspended because of an inability to pay fines, officials say.

Read the L.A. Times story here.

New Maryland Rule Moves Toward Civil Gideon?

by NCM Staff

Updated: August 27, 2017

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With the civil unrest in Baltimore still simmering, it seems a good time to pass on some potential help for indigent residents there who face civil court actions, like evictions or family law issues. A legal blogger for the Maryland Daily Record explains that the new rules might even be a small step toward “civil Gideon,” or the idea that people who need a lawyer for civil actions, but cannot afford one, should be provided legal representation the way they might be in criminal court.

The newspaper explains: “… the new rule should assist impecunious clients and the pro bono attorneys that represent them to receive prompt determinations as to the waiver of filing fees. Indeed, if the individual is represented by an attorney retained through programs on a list submitted by the Maryland Legal Services Corporation, the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau or the Office of the Public Defender there is a procedure for the clerk of the court to waive filing fees without need for a court order.”

Even better, the new rule “… also provides that circuit and district courts must consider the Maryland Legal Services Corporation income guidelines when determining whether to waive filing fees. This should promote some measure of uniformity across Maryland for determining when filing fees will be waived. This is a good reform and one that was promoted by the Maryland Access to Justice Commission.

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