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Home | Politically Connected | State Politics

Chief judge warns: Justice needs funding

Taking his case to the media, Eric Magnuson said that without more money for courts, something will have to give: "What part of justice do you want us to stop doing?"

By ROCHELLE OLSON, Star Tribune

Last update: January 14, 2009 - 7:55 PM

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Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson wants it known that without a funding increase, and even with the funding now in place, the court system will be greatly diminished.

"The justice system is at a tipping point," he said. The question that will arise, he said, will be: "What part of justice do you want us to stop doing? The situation is that stark."

In an unusual move for a chief justice, Magnuson held a news conference Wednesday to plead the case for court funding. He was backed by a coalition of law enforcement officials that included county attorneys, sheriffs, public defenders, chiefs of police and former Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, who wanted to speak out as citizen and civic leader.

Magnuson outlined a grim scenario of shuttered courthouses, and said some lower-level gateway crimes, such as shoplifting and bad check writing, wouldn't be pursued because of lack of funding.

The chief is asking for a $43 million increase over the two-year budget request of $600 million. The catch is that Gov. Tim Pawlenty has directed all state government agencies to find a way to chop 10 percent off their current budget -- not add to it.

Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung said, "Almost 80 percent of [the courts'] requested funding increase is for salary and benefit increases for judges and court personnel. In an era when we are urging pay freezes for government employees, we suggest they reexamine their priorities."

At his news conference, Magnuson said some of the money goes to pay increases for union employees as obligated by contract, but the judges were not getting increases.

Magnuson has been making his case to legislators, who will vote on a budget this session, as well as Pawlenty, who appointed the chief to the top job on the state's highest court last year.

"The basic object of government is to provide for public safety and ensure the rule of law," Magnuson said.

He also is reminding lawmakers that the courts budget is only 2 percent of the entire state budget, but the "consequences of not spending money there are huge."

Sayles Belton said any significant reduction in judicial funding would hurt the state's economic vitality. "Justice is not an option or a choice, it is an obligation," she said.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747

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