Today’s article in the StarTribune regarding the Minnesota courts prompted me to write about my experience as an observer (ride-along) last month in the courtroom of the Sibley County Courthouse. At the invite of court adminstrator Karen Messner and Judge Thomas McCarthy, I was able to see firsthand how the court works and more importantly, get a sense of the workload of our public defenders and the effects of budget cuts over the past several years.

Today’s Strib article described how overworked public defenders face the daunting task of trying to provide quality legal advice to the accused who work with these defenders. The Judiciary took cuts of $26.5 million in FY 04-05, which required our courts to implement several changes, including scaling back the number of public defenders. The Judiciary faces a current shortfall of $13 million for FY 08-09 forcing leaves without pay, closing public counters, closing satellite courts, delaying conciliation court calendars, and terminating arbitration services in some districts.

This year the legislature made cuts to the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, Civil Legal Services, and the Board of Public Defense totaling $5.5 million. A recent Legislative Auditor’s report stated the judiciary in Minnesota runs “a tight ship” and is extremely efficient. Can we afford to make more cuts when crime, foreclosures, sexual offenses, civil disputes, and drug use are as prevalent as ever? How long should we wait to resolve traffic and parking citations, process arrest warrants, enforce money judgments, or process adoption and child custody cases?

The Minnesota Court system is a core function of government provided for in the Constitution. The Judiciary is necessary to guarantee public safety and rule of law to the citizens of Minnesota. The 2009 Legislature will need to take a good look at what is happening to, one could argue, the most important of our three branches of government.