Amendment E is on the South Dakota ballot for the Nov. 7 election. The initiative calls for the formation of a citizen's grand jury that could review judicial decisions. Here are two perspectives on the issue.
For: S.D. not holding judges accountable
By Mike G. Wagner
Create of state of fear, and people will believe
regardless of the facts.
Opponents of Amendment E state that others besides judges could be sued,
but in actual practice, the bodies listed by opponents already are sued.
Opponents want to create a state of fear.
In Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union (1997), the
Supreme Court ruled that "the vast democratic fora of the Internet"
constitutes a free-speech zone where the government's ability to
restrict expression is at its weakest.
But not in South Dakota, where a state judge ordered censorship of a Web
site, southdakotagov.info, that supports Amendment E. The site's
published corrupt judicial acts hurts their cause. File a complaint with
the South Dakota Supreme Court, Judicial Quality Commission or the Bar,
and they will ignore you. Constitutional rights are something you see on
TV, not in South Dakota Courts.
The Supreme Court ruled that parenting is a fundamental right protected
by the U.S. Constitution. In Troxel: "The liberty interest at issue in
this case - the interest of parents in the care, custody, and control of
their children - is perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty
interests recognized by this Court."
Not in South Dakota family courts, where awarding one
parent sole custody in the pursuit of child-support money boosts the
state coffers. Big bonuses were awarded by the federal government in
collection of child support to the state. Never mind that the practice
of severely limiting or abolishing the noncustodial right to be part of
the children's lives destroys parent-child bonds.
The Supreme Court has ruled that a constitutional right to testify "does
not extend to testifying falsely." Also, "... the right to counsel
includes no right to have a lawyer who will cooperate with planned
perjury."
Most anyone having been subject to a South Dakota Star
Chamber, especially in family court, would disagree. Perjury happens all
the time and is ignored when convenient for the courts.
SDCL 23A-27-18, regarding probation, states that a probationer is not to
commit any state or federal crimes. But judges allow violations anyway.
Judges ignore the law when they feel a need too.
42 U.S.C. - 408 is a federal crime, although using an ex-spouse's Social
Security number is quite acceptable to South Dakota Judges. It happens
all the time, while judges and law enforcement ignore it. Passing bad
checks and using fake Social Security numbers do not concern judges, JQC
and the South Dakota Bar, along with officials in Pierre. According to
them, laws are guidelines, not laws.
Judges break the law, make new laws, ignore laws,
violate parents' and children's rights and violate constitutionally
guaranteed freedoms because judges know they are not accountable and the
average citizen of South Dakota has nowhere to turn. If you have an
actual grievance regarding a judge, you will be ignored under the
present system.
Judges are ministers of their own prejudices and are presently
unaccountable.
No money or influence - no justice in South Dakota.
Mike G. Wagner, 46, of Yankton, works at a Yankton manufacturing
company.
Against: Judicial system among world's best
By Martin H. Gallanter
I believe in judges. Actually, I believe in the
judicial system, but the institution stands or falls on the men and
women in black robes who preside every difficult day.
I know some judges right here in Sioux Falls. A couple of times a month,
I eat lunch with a few. I see them with their families at concerts and
charity affairs. One is a sensitive visual artist. Another is moved
nearly to tears when he talks about the families that pass through his
court destroyed by meth. I had beers in a local bar one St. Patrick's
Day with a judge who blushed each time a passing lawyer referred to her
as "your honor."
I believe in these judges from my town. They are
caring, skilled people who left far more lucrative legal careers to
serve. They wear robes for their community, to try to make life safer
and better for those who obey the law and to dispense true justice to
those who do not. I have no reason to believe the judges from other
towns are any different.
Not all judges are noble. There are those who are corrupt, who defy the
law and have their political agendas. I watched judges let murderers go
free in Mississippi during the '60s and myself stood before a corrupt
magistrate who sentenced me to jail because I refused to plead guilty.
But I won on appeal, and the judge eventually went to prison when his
corruption became public. Decades later, even some of the murderers have
been brought back to a Southern courtroom and sent to prison.
The American judicial system stands among the best in the world. Though
it sometimes lets the guilty free and from time to time punishes the
innocent, the strengths far outweigh the flaws. When I worked for The
Legal Aid Society, I watched underpaid public-service lawyers help
thousands of poor people win their day in court. While it may be easier
for the rich, the system does not belong to them alone.
I believe also in those life terms given to certain
judges. Legal scholars freed from pressures and politics provide lots of
surprises.
Earl Warren was the conservative governor of California before he was
chosen for the Supreme Court. Republican presidents appointed the vast
majority of the federal judiciary that seems to make so many Republican
lawmakers unhappy.
But apparently the agendas of politicians fade in the
presence of the law and in the hearts of judges appointed for life.
I had the honor of meeting the late then-retired Associate Justice
William Brennan in his office at the Supreme Court. He was born and
raised on the same streets of the same city as I.
That's who I met, a grown-up boy from Newark, N.J., who had a chance to
contribute - as he saw it - to justice and history from his own heart,
his own head and in the framework of the United States Constitution.
I'm not a lawyer, but I believe in judges.
Martin "Marty" Gallanter, 61, of Sioux Falls is chief development
officer of Volunteers of Americas, Dakotas, and president of Mount Zion
Congregation.