AN underreported aspect of the pandemic in the United States is its negative impact on almost all aspects of the judicial system. Piecing together what is available for America’s state and local courts suggests as many as five million legal cases—criminal and civil— have been delayed by measures to fight the pandemic. If the wheels of justice move slowly but grind finely, as the expression goes, it has gotten much worse for people at every point in the system, from advocates to judges to prisoners as well as civil litigants seeking redress.
This is extrapolated from two counties in the state of South Carolina, with a combined population of 663,000 people. The backlog is reported to be 10,000 delayed cases. Numbers like this across the 50 states suggest five million civil and criminal cases in state courts. South Carolina is not the most litigious of the 50 states. At the federal court level, there has been a greatly expanded use of technology, including temporarily authorising the use of video and teleconferencing technologies. Having more access to funding than available at the state level, it has been possible to increase bandwidth and use the latest in video technology to run the courts while still giving the public and the media access to listen.
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Denne historien er fra March 22, 2021-utgaven av India Legal.
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PIL, Difficult To Swallow?
In a recent ruling, the Bombay High Court lamented the increasing number of frivolous public interest litigations being filed in courts and echoed the sentiments of the Supreme Court that such litigations are the bane of the judicial system. Is there any way to restrict their misuse?
Till Infertility Do Us Part...
The Calcutta High Court slammed a husband for initiating divorce proceedings due to his wife's infertility and asked him to be a pillar of support for her. Courts have often taken an empathetic view in such matters
IS THAT LEGAL?
Ignorance of law is no excuse. Here are answers to frequently asked queries regarding matters that affect us on a day-to-day basis
The Big Lie
In America, The Big Lie is an idiom used by Donald Trump's opponents and the media to describe his constant gripe about election fraud. Now, it seems more suited to another Republican, Congressman George Santos (right), who has been facing growing calls to resign after he admitted fabricating parts of his resume and biography since his election in New York last year.
Flying into the Sunset
Over 50 years since the first and original jumbo jet, the Boeing 747, took to the skies and revolutionized air travel, the last of the legendary aircraft (right) was delivered to a freight charter company, bringing down the curtain on one of aviation's most successful products.
Star Crossed
Actor and producer Alec Baldwin is a Hollywood legend, having starred in a range of movies, award winning TV sitcoms, and theatre. He was most recently seen in Mission Impossible Fallout, which is an apt description of his current situation.
Walkouts in the UK
An estimated half a million workers have gone on strike, shutting down thousands of schools, public transport and border disruption. It is the biggest day of industrial action for more than a decade.
Myanmar's Misery
Two years after the military coup ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the brutal crackdown by the junta on so-called \"insurgents\" and civilian protesters has reached a new level with the use of air strikes, a new and deadly tactic in the ongoing civil war.
AMERICA'S ANGST
From messy, divisive politics to a series of mass shootings, and now black officers brutally beating another black man to death as seen in bodycam videos, America's domestic convulsions are cause for serious introspection
JUSTICE LEAGUE
There are few judicial appointment procedures in the world that are completely bereft of the overarching presence of either the executive or the legislature, or both. In the end, the judge is left with all the powers vested in him/her by the constitution to uphold the rule of law, within an atmosphere of external influences
