O’Connor Sees Lower Court Reform Needs. Justice Urges Action

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said today the time has come for Arizona “to buckle down and achieve a thorough reform1 ‘ of its lower court system. “Arizona has studied this problem long enough,” Justice O’Connor told an audience of about 400 at a conference on “Arizona’s Pe()ples Courts: Proposals for Improvement,” at the Arizona State University College of Law. SHE SAID the current judicial system creates “overlapping jurisdiction, duplication, disparity in workloads and cash-register justice.” Justice O’Connor, an Arizona appeals court judge before being named by President Reagan to the Supreme Court, was introduced by ASU law professor Willard Pedrick as the “Jackie Robinson” of the high court. Quoting Thomas Jefferson, she said, “Laws and institutions must change to keep pace with changing times.” She traced the history of court reform proposals back to 1906 and outlined successful court unification schemes in Kentucxky, Connecticut and Wisconsin. According to Justice O’Connor, any reform of municipal and justice courts should include: • A mechanism to remove incompetent judges at the local level. • Central court management and administration. “We need to reassign judges, relieve congestion and provide for central recordkeeping,” she said. • State financing of local courts. “People tum to courts when all else fails,” Justice O’Connor told the group, which was dotted with state Supreme Court justices, lawmakers and ASU law students. “Unfortunately they also