Earwigging: Financing Judicial Campaigns

The financing of judicial campaigns is a form of earwigging. Political forces, whether they be individuals or groups, seek the election of judicial candidates who will decide cases in certain favorable ways to the individual or group. In our electoral process money is speech. Political forces therefore spend money to get certain people elected. These forces do not spend speech money out of the goodness of their hearts. They expect a certain form of "speech" from the people they get elected. The speech they expect is speech from the benches of our judicial system -- the super-legislatures of today's "democracies." It is just human nature.

Judicial campaign financing is a form of earwigging.

Plea Bargains

The news from Mississippi tells of another plea bargain in the offing between Richard Scruggs and the US Attorney. There will be more such bargains perhaps. The trouble with these plea bargains is that we do not get to know all of the facts surrounding the wrongdoing. There will be some sort of admission of guilt as to a particular crime by the person reaching the bargain, but there will not be an exposition of the facts, in any great degree, in and about the wrong doing.

One supposes that the wrongdoing in Mississippi between judges and lawyers is pervasive. To what extent we will never know.

Judge Biggers: A View Up To the bench.

Judge Biggers does not seem to comport himself while acting from the bench with any sort of true detachment, objectivity, impartiality, understanding or compassion.

He seems to have taken the Scruggs matter personally. He seems intent on doing harm rather than doing justice.

Reading the transcript of the Dick Scruggs sentencing hearing one gets the impression Judge Biggers seems to think Scruggs offended him (and his friend Judge Lackey?) and for such offense of Judge Biggers he should be punished.

Federal judges should speak for the court, not themselves. Adherence to the fact that a federal judge is speaking for the court would have, should have, a moderating influence on the judge who happens to be on that particular bench at that particular time. More importantly the public impression and understanding of the court then is directed to the court itself, not some person who was fortunate enough to be appointed to the court by reason of the political process.

One senses there is a great deal more to the story of Dick Scruggs and the trouble he finds himself in. It looks as though the trouble and concern for the system of justice may extend deeper into the judiciary and legal system in Mississippi and indeed America.

Judge Biggers

Today Judge Biggers received a guilty plea from Zach Scruggs for "misprision of a felony."

After a statement by Mr. Scruggs in which he apologized and expressed his genuine remorse, Judge Biggers replied:

The legal profession you say you love so much, you will not be a part of for
the rest of your life.

This statement was, simply put, unnecessary and mean-spirited.