When I interviewed with the Miami State's Attorney's office in January 1986, after my initial interview at the Atlanta Placement Conference, I was shocked to learn that Florida allowed depositions in criminal cases, which I'd never heard of before. Researching that today in preparation for a blog article, I found this Texas opinion:
Courts do not exist to conserve judicial resources. Courts exist to expend judicial resources, and they should cheerfully do so to protect constitutional rights, such as the right to counsel. If courts cannot do that, then judicial resources are not worth conserving. Constitutions create rights. The people count on judges to enforce them. The Texas Legislature commands us to do so. We have sworn to do so. Nobody else can do so. If we choose to conserve our judicial resources instead of using them to protect the United States and Texas constitutional and statutory right to counsel, then what better use, exactly, are we conserving them for?
Concurring opinion of Justice Cohen, Jack v. State, 64 S.W.3d 694, 698 (Houston 1st, 2002).
Despite the current Hurricane Irma weather, and all of the corruption, I think we're blessed to live here in Florida.
No comments:
Post a Comment