President Thies responds to warning of weekly federal court closings

The following is ISBA President John E. Thies' response to Chief Judge Holderman's letter on the possibility of weekly federal court closings due to budget cuts. ISBA members are urged to join President Thies in this effort by contacting their representatives in Congress. Contact information for Illinois' Congressional delegation can be found at www.illinoisworknet.com

Dear Chief Judge Holderman:

I appreciate the opportunity to respond on behalf of the Illinois State Bar Association to your September 4, 2012, letter detailing the perilous situation confronting the federal courts in the absence of positive budgetary intervention by the Congress.

You asked about our views on how our lawyer members and their clients would be impacted if the U.S. Court for the Northem District of Illinois is forced to drastically diminish its operations. I want to focus my response on the effect such action would have on our clients - the parties in civil actions and the individuals involved in criminal prosecutions. It is they who would be most affected by the interruption of court services.

We believe there are several interrelated consequences that would be the result of either of the closure regimens outlined in your letter. As you know, much of the case load in the federal court involves business litigation. The normal flow of commerce in one of the nation's most populous court districts would be dealt a setback by a reduced court schedule. Litigants in these matters rely on a timely and predictable outcome of their cases so they can proceed with their business at hand. A further complication affecting business litigation could arise with the need for criminal matters to take precedence under the requirements of the Speedy Trial Act, thus putting commercial cases on hold for an untold amount of time.

This brings us to a secondary, but troublesome, consideration about the conduct of civil and criminal jury trials under a fragmented court schedule. Jurors who have rearranged their work schedules in order to fulfill their civic duty would be inconvenienced by having to report on some days of the week but be idle on one day in the middle of a trial. This would most certainly lead to a distracting break in the normal a trial, diminishing the ability of jurors to capably discharge their duty.

On behalf of the Illinois State Bar Association, I add our voice to what is surely a universal plea that all necessary action be taken to prevent a serious diminution of court services. Closure of the courts because of the lack of adequate funding would have a negative impact on the court's proud tradition of addressing our citizen's expectation of an efficient justice system.

Sincerely,

John E. Thies
President