Is the Ledge Finally Showing Some "Grit" To Runaway Judiciary?

Is the Legislature finally showing some grit and defending their rightful sphere of government from court intrusions? Could it be that they have had enough of being pushed around by the boys in black?

A warning shot across the bow was fired yesterday when the legislature denied the State Supreme Court a massive budget increase request from the court. The court spends about $3.6 now, they wanted to up that about 15% a year for the next two years, including generous raises for their own. The court sent Chief Justice Hannah, who was very respectful of the legislature before the committee. Hannah was also one of the two on the court who has been respectful of them from the bench- his minority opinion was that the courts were exceeding their authourity by taking the Lakeview School Funding case back up.

The legislators were not buying the court's request for a funding increase, and some of them were not shy about saying the Lakeview school funding case was part of the reason why. "At the risk of being disbarred, obviously the court has been very interested in how this body has treated K-12 education in the past," pointedly cooed Rep. Chris Thyer, D-Jonesboro.

"We sent them (education) out at base, and so I would just say, let's treat them (the Supreme Court) the exact same way and send them out at base," he said. That's what they did. They kept the court's funding levels at their current amount.

Perhaps the legislature will finally show some gumption and check the courts. In our form of government the Legislature, not the courts, are supposed to have the power of the purse strings. The courts are out of line ordering legislatures to spend more of the people's money on anything.

On the other hand, the way the State Supreme Court ruled on Lakeview, maybe the courts will just order the legislature to increase the court's budget too! Why not? The logic would be the same as their logic in Lakeview, that the COURTS have the authority to determine what a "Constitutional" level of funding is.

If the ledge finally starts fighting back, the courts can either back down or dig in. In case of the latter, it would be wise for the ledge to send a constitutional amendment to the people that puts the judges in their place. If they don't do it in regular session, they will not be able to for two more years.