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Purposes
and Responsibilities of Courts
Curriculum
Guidelines Summary
What
Court Leaders Need to Know and Be Able to Do
The
Purposes and Responsibilities of Courts Core Competency includes five
areas, each of which assumes a link between theory and practice; concept
and behavior; and idea and application:
 Curriculum
Guidelines
Why
Courts Exist
Courts
as Institutions
Rule
of Law, Equal Protection and Due Process
Accountability Interdependence
and Leadership
Why
Courts Exist
Only
the judiciary can definitively determine who is to prevail in the
inevitable conflicts that arise between individuals; between government
and the governed, including those accused by the state of violating the
law; between individuals and corporations; and between organizations, both
public and private. The
atmosphere surrounding courts and court events is formal and peculiar,
because the courts are unique. They
resolve disputes by applying the law to the facts of particular cases
independently and impartially. When
the law is applied to the facts in courts, every party has the absolute
right to an arbiter who is independent of the parties to that case and
their advocates.
Court
processes must reflect established court purposes such as individual
justice in individual cases, the appearance of individual justice in
individual cases, provision of a forum for the resolution of disputes, the
protection of individuals against the arbitrary use of governmental power,
and the making of a record of legal status.
Individual cases must receive individual attention. The law must be
correctly applied to the facts. Regardless of economic or other status,
there must be equal access. Everyone who comes to and before the court
must be treated respectfully, fairly, and equally.
Case processing and the application of the law to the facts in
individual cases must be consistent and predictable.
Courts as Institutions
When
they are impartial and independent, courts earn public trust and
confidence as they balance needs for social order and individual freedom
in the “ordinary administration of criminal and civil justice.” (Federalist
17) Justice requires
courts whose ordinary everyday administration reflects the legacy of the
Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, America’s compound
republic, and the public’s respect for and voluntary adherence to the
law and judicial decisions in individual cases.
Courts
are separate from the executive and the legislative branches of
government. But, at bottom, the constitutional and statutory basis of
their authority dictates interdependency and independence, not autonomy.
Competent court managers understand the historical basis for
judicial independence, judicial authority, concepts of jurisdiction and
venue, and the inherent power of the courts.
Whether exercised through management and restrained activism or via
adversarial relations with the other branches, the courts self-consciously
protect their decisional processes and maintain their distinctive
political and administrative boundaries.
Because
the Trial Court Performance
Standards persuasively and thoroughly articulate what courts should
accomplish with the resources available to them, competent court leaders
know what they say and take them seriously.
Rule
of Law, Equal
Protection and Due Process
The
promise of equal justice under law and the constitutional guarantees of
equal protection and due process of law ground day-to-day judicial
administration. Courts
protect all persons equally without bias or discrimination of any type.
This is equal protection. Proper
judicial administration demands protection of private rights through
regular administration according to prescribed rules, processes, and
forms. This is due process.
Elements of due process on the criminal and civil side include
notice, discovery, right to bail, counsel, lawful and regular process,
confrontation, cross examination, the right to call witnesses, the
privilege against self incrimination, and public and timely resolution,
among others.
Court
management competency requires an informed understanding of equal
protection and due process and their historical evolution from rights
first granted by the English king to the Lords of the Realm, to rights now
guaranteed to all Americans. Rule
of law, equal protection, and due process have profound practical
implications. The ends of judicial administration are not autonomy or even
judicial independence, but rather liberty, social order, equal access, the
equality of individuals and the state, and justice.
Accountability
Purposes and Responsibilities of Courts require balance between independence and external and
internal accountability. Courts
do not serve their enduring purposes or continuing responsibilities unless
their structure, governance, operations, programs, processes, and
performance lead to the reality and deserved public perception that the
judiciary is accountable. The
justification for court control of the pace of litigation, the tracking
and reporting of case disposition times, and adherence to judicial
decisions is not merely efficiency. Rather
it is the courts’ responsibility for the proper use of public money to
ensure rule of law, equal protection and due process, individual justice
in individual cases, and the appearance of individual justice in
individual cases.
Court
managers establish, explain, and maintain the court’s use of public
resources. They report on
court performance to the judiciary, the public, and the judiciary’s
political co-equals. Judges
and court staff recognize the public’s right to an accountable
judiciary, which demonstrates service excellence
Interdependence
and Leadership
Federalist 51 declares
that a “contriving … interior structure of government … is …
essential to the preservation of liberty.”
Contriving interdependency and overlapping power assume on-going
relationships and, plainly, conflict.
The judiciary’s relationships have a distinctive flavor in needed
balance between interdependency and responsiveness to others, independence
and distinctive boundaries, and leadership of the judiciary, individual
judges, and the justice system.
Courts
depend on the executive and legislative branches for resources. The
judiciary cannot process and resolve even simple disputes without the
cooperation of others who have conflicting responsibilities. Courts
oversee an adversarial process as the way to truth and justice.
Court leaders remain above the fray even as they actively manage
cases, work to improve the justice system and court performance, and build
public trust and confidence. Judicial
communications and interventions are subject to public and governmental
accountability. But the
judiciary should never be subservient.
The judicial voice must be strong and steady, yet modest and
measured. The judiciary must
lead the justice system in resolving criminal, civil, and family matters.
Advanced
courts have leaders who not only know what the enduring purposes and
continuing responsibilities are, they live it.
Enduring values are acted upon, risks are taken in the interest of
justice, and leadership is exercised in the interest of justice and the
courts as institutions. Effective
leaders are comfortable with ambiguity and with their affirmative
responsibility to lead. Absent
leadership, courts cannot structure and maintain distinctive
relationships. Likewise, leadership allows courts to build and to protect
judicial authority. Authority requires understanding and effective
communication of the proper purpose behind judicial prerogatives,
emoluments of office, legal and administrative processes, programs,
offices and activities.
In
Hamilton’s words, “the judiciary has neither FORCE nor WILL, but
merely judgment…” (Federalist
78) Judicial
administration is a high calling. With
their passion for justice and courts as institutions, court leaders
motivate others and bring pride to everyday routines and responsibilities.
They demand integrity and ethical conduct. They know that the courts integrity must be pure.
Click on each of the five Curriculum Guidelines to see the
associated Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
Why
Courts Exist
Courts
as Institutions
Rule
of Law, Equal Protection and Due Process
Accountability Interdependence
and Leadership
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