Difference between revisions of "Faux Process And Rubber-Stamped Orders"

Now, obviously the Muscogee County judge described in my story above erred by signing an order that the judge did not read. But why did this happen? A summary list of potential causes sheds some light on the phenomenon. In Cobb County, State Court judges are paid ___________________ annually and they keep their office position unless they retire or lose in an election. Theoretically, they can be removed from office through a disqualification process initiated by the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC). However, the JQC will generally not scrutinize a judge's signed order so long as a hearing was conducted and the order on its face does not show clear impropriety. That being said, the "rubber-stamped" order flies under the radar and the rubber-stamping judge remains free of JQC prosecution. Second, judges are subject to many outside influences that are not reflected on a court's record. For example, judges are allowed to accept campaign donations from local attorneys and, under the current ethics code applicable in Georgia, the judges are not required to disclose their donations to the parties in court. Another not so commonly advertised influence over a judge's decision is caused by the judge's own staff members. A judge's staff attorney  

That case in Muscogee County was not the first time I witnessed the entering of a rubber-stamped order, nor was it the last. In fact, my first recollection of such injustice occurred at the hands of Judge Carl W. Bowers, and my most recent experience was at the hands of Judge G. Grant Brantley. While I sincerely want to believe that these were honest mistakes, rare flukes caused by the coincidental alignment of the planets, mere cursory research into the personal backgrounds and experience of these two judges shows otherwise.