"A Lily-White Bench".
A lily-white bench
Two black judges out of the 40 who now preside over Jefferson County's circuit, district and family courts hardly constitute a racially representative bench for an area whose population is 19 percent black.
But a lily-white Jefferson County bench is intolerable, though lily-white is what Jefferson County's bench is going to be when longtime District Judges Janice Martin and Toni Stringer move into the senior status judge program.
Louisville NAACP president Raoul Cunningham and others have been sounding the alarm for weeks. Gov. Steve Beshear must be prepared to assure racial diversity in our courts, where -- let's face it -- African Americans are overly represented as defendants.
But Gov. Beshear needs help -- and no excuses. He should have a long list of talented black attorneys who will be strong candidates when there are vacancies that the Governor must fill. Getting up that list is a shared responsibility, not just of the official Judicial Nominating Committee but also of others who strive to identify and correct disparities in the judicial system.
As for Jefferson County, two black judges need not be a magic number. We'd like to see more African Americans appointed, and subsequently elected by the people, to fill some of the other vacancies being created by the senior status program.
Too bad for Kentucky, but at the moment there's a virtual stampede of experienced judges who are retiring to the senior status program that provides enhanced retirement benefits to those who agree to work part-time for five years.
In the past we've editorialized that the program is a taxpayer rip-off, and we'll be glad to see it stop accepting new judges next month. Should judges, even fine ones like Martin and Stringer, be eligible to retire with 100 percent of their salaries after just 20 years -- and able to add to that up to $30,000 more for serving as special judges?
Editor's comment: Is there ANY reason why the Courier-Journal isn't concerned about other areas of Kentucky outside of Jefferson County, like Warren County and others, which has had NO -- YES YOU HEARD ME, NO --Black/African American judge(s) EVER!?
Two black judges out of the 40 who now preside over Jefferson County's circuit, district and family courts hardly constitute a racially representative bench for an area whose population is 19 percent black.
But a lily-white Jefferson County bench is intolerable, though lily-white is what Jefferson County's bench is going to be when longtime District Judges Janice Martin and Toni Stringer move into the senior status judge program.
Louisville NAACP president Raoul Cunningham and others have been sounding the alarm for weeks. Gov. Steve Beshear must be prepared to assure racial diversity in our courts, where -- let's face it -- African Americans are overly represented as defendants.
But Gov. Beshear needs help -- and no excuses. He should have a long list of talented black attorneys who will be strong candidates when there are vacancies that the Governor must fill. Getting up that list is a shared responsibility, not just of the official Judicial Nominating Committee but also of others who strive to identify and correct disparities in the judicial system.
As for Jefferson County, two black judges need not be a magic number. We'd like to see more African Americans appointed, and subsequently elected by the people, to fill some of the other vacancies being created by the senior status program.
Too bad for Kentucky, but at the moment there's a virtual stampede of experienced judges who are retiring to the senior status program that provides enhanced retirement benefits to those who agree to work part-time for five years.
In the past we've editorialized that the program is a taxpayer rip-off, and we'll be glad to see it stop accepting new judges next month. Should judges, even fine ones like Martin and Stringer, be eligible to retire with 100 percent of their salaries after just 20 years -- and able to add to that up to $30,000 more for serving as special judges?
Editor's comment: Is there ANY reason why the Courier-Journal isn't concerned about other areas of Kentucky outside of Jefferson County, like Warren County and others, which has had NO -- YES YOU HEARD ME, NO --Black/African American judge(s) EVER!?
Labels: Judicial integrity, Justice, Race, Racism
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 1:24 PM
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