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SJC
CHIEF JUSTICE MARGARET H. MARSHALL CALLS FOR
RESTORATION OF FUNDS TO JUDICIARY’S BUDGET
Boston—Calling
the budget proposal by the Senate Ways and Means Committee
for the Massachusetts courts “devastating to vital court functions
and services to the public,” Supreme Judicial Court Chief
Justice Margaret H. Marshall called on members of the legal
community and the public to ask their elected representatives
to restore the necessary funds to the Judiciary’s budget for
Fiscal Year 2003, which begins on July 1, 2002.
“The
Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court and I are deeply concerned
about the significant reduction to the Judiciary’s Fiscal
Year 2003 budget proposed last week by the Senate Ways and
Means Committee. Decreased security in courthouses, fewer
court sessions, a shortage of court interpreters and court
stenographers, case delays throughout the state, these are
but a few examples of what the public will have to bear. Access
to timely justice will be imperiled,” said Chief Justice Marshall.
The
Senate Ways and Means Committee proposed a Trial Court budget
of $427, 212,628, which is $31 million below what the House
of Representatives has proposed and at least $47 million less
that the minimal funds needed to maintain basic court operations
and services in the Trial Court. In addition, the recommended
budget for the Supreme Judicial Court is a 13 percent cut
below minimal operating needs. The proposed budget would require
a reduction in personnel at the Supreme Judicial Court and
would decimate the information technology network for both
the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court with no funds
to maintain existing network support.
Chief
Justice Marshall said, “I ask members of the legal community
and the public to make their concerns known to their elected
representatives. The public’s fundamental right to timely
justice is too precious to jeopardize with inadequate funds.”
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