Editorial: State's court system shows budget strain

Minnesota's executive and legislative branches aren't the only parts of state government that feel pinched when the economy turns sour. The third branch of government, the court system, sees more cases of domestic violence, marriage dissolution, child protection, debt collection, foreclosure and low-level criminal activity. Constitutionally mandatory expenses for psychological services, interpreters and juries are all rising fast this year.

That makes this a bad time for Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Legislature to cut court budgets. Yet Pawlenty recommended a $9 million reduction in the state's judiciary funding for the coming fiscal year -- 4 percent of nonmandated salaries. The Legislature's conference committee is considering smaller figures, but still has a court funding reduction in its sights. Facing a $935 deficit, many difficult budget decisions are being made in St. Paul this year. But viewed in the context of a $34 billion budget, the governor and Legislature should be able to find room to maintain a quality court system.

This is the second year in a row that court administration has been on the budget chopping block. The 2007 Legislature allocated $13 million less than the courts projected for employee costs through mid-2009.

As a result, judicial staffing already has been cut 7 percent around the state. Public service counters have been closed one-half day per week in three of the state's judicial districts, including the largest, Hennepin County. Hennepin has also stopped doing criminal-background checks for the public and terminated arbitration services. The Rochester-based Third Judicial District cut the frequency of conciliation court and extended jury terms. A satellite court in Washington County has been closed.

That's the story the state's about-to-retire judicial branch CEO, Chief Justice Russell Anderson, is telling anyone who'll listen these days. He's spending his final weeks in office pleading that the judiciary be spared from the latest round of state budget cuts.

His message deserves heed. Courts are a bedrock function of democratic government. Yet justice delayed, and hence denied, will be the story in every courthouse in Minnesota if Pawlenty's proposal becomes law, Anderson warns. Staff reduction in this biennium would swell to 15 percent, the chief justice said in a recent letter to the State Bar Association. Drug and conciliation courts would be curtailed or eliminated, and some courthouses may close.

The courts don't come to the Capitol with the well-heeled special interest friends that defend other parts of the state budget. But they have Minnesota's foundational compact on their side -- and for elected officials sworn to uphold the state Constitution, that ought to count for much.