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

The case in Muscogee County was not the first time I witnessed a person denied due process with a rubber-stamped order, nor was it the last. In fact, my first recollection of such injustice occurred at the hands of a Cobb County State Court judge, the Honorable Carl W. Bowers, and my most recent experience was at the hands of a Cobb County Superior Court senior judge, the Honorable G. Grant Brantley.

Rubber-stamped orders are perhaps the biggest threat to due process in civil cases. I have witnessed this method of closing cases in multiple courts and by different judges across the State of Georgia; it is Judge Brantley's ''modus operandi'' and "if you don't like it, you can appeal," as Brantley would say. Unfortunately, appeals are expensive, not everyone can afford an appeal and the appellate court presents its own unique barriers to equitable case resolution. Brantley’s way of '''"passing the buck"''' onto the Georgia Court of Appeals is an irresponsible use of resources and acts contrary to justice.

In 2022, I was hired to defend a civil matter in Fulton County that should have been dismissed with just one hearing by a competent judge. However, the Fulton judge presiding over the matter was not interested in making decisions based on the facts and the law. After multiple unsuccessful motions to recuse the presiding judge, the Fulton County judiciary recruited Judge Grant Brantley from Cobb County to take over the case. With Judge Brantley now assigned to the case, I had high hopes that my client would finally get a fair shake and the case would be dismissed as it should have been over two years ago. That was not the case. Rather, Judge Brantley simply reaffirmed the bogus rulings of the assigned judge with his “rubber-stamp” MO described above. It would appear to a competent lawyer or judge that Judge Brantley knew absolutely nothing about the applicable law in the case. That case is still pending—though, again, it should have been dismissed and closed over two years ago.

The Georgia Code of Judicial Ethics bars the mere ''appearance'' of impropriety. As to the practices and habits implemented by Judge Brantley, it ''appears'' that he recklessly rushes rulings and "rubber-stamps" orders systematically to rapidly close cases. He's simply not preparing for cases over which he presides and blitzes to the conclusion he wants without properly verifying the law or facts to his cases. Presumably, a primary cause of Judge Brantley’s heightened level of impropriety is that he—like other senior judges—is not subject to election or re-election and has the benefit of remaining in a perpetual ''lame duck'' term. In short, senior judges cannot be held accountable and, therefore, a conventional approach for curbing Judge Brantley’s behavior is unavailable. Thus, challenging Judge Bowers is my unconventional attempt to make a positive impact on resolving this ''senior judge conundrum''.  While I understand that Judge Bowers is an active State Court judge and not a retired senior Superior Court judge, I firmly believe that opposing Bowers in this election is a step forward to resolving the issues at hand.

Our maimed “justice” system is the result of flawed philosophies and the misalignment of incentives. Imagine losing your house, your job or ''worse'' your child simply because a judge was too lazy to read what he or she was signing. Judges are acting like cogs in a wheel, simple machines "rubber-stamping" their signatures on paper without scrutinizing the contents because, frankly, they just don’t have time for this right We The People call '''due process'''.