Judiciary

Condemned murderer Marvin Francois died in the electric chair Wednesday, blaming a "racist" judicial system. "The white Miami institutionalized racist judiciary and law enforcement systems have made me, the once heroin addict, the scapegoat," Francois said. Francois, 39, who was denied a reprieve late Tuesday by the Supreme Court, was sentenced to die for murdering six persons in a drug-related robbery in July, 1977.

For more than a year, Russia has prohibited its government-run museums from sending artworks to exhibitions in the United States. The ban has frustrated and puzzled American museum officials, because it was spurred by a legal decision unrelated to anything the museums themselves have done. Diplomacy has failed to lift it. Hopes have risen recently that the impasse can be broken by a bipartisan bill that passed unopposed in the U.S. House of Representativeson March 19 and is pending in the Senate judiciary committee.

The people of California spoke clearly at the polls in 2008 when they passed an amendment to the state Constitution that defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman. The public debate was held, the media wars were fought, both sides spent millions of dollars and the people voted for Proposition 8 by a margin of 52% to 48%. The people's will carried the day, as it is supposed to — until U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker came along. Last week, Walker nullified the votes of 7,001,084 people.

A society based on the rule of law requires that people respect their courts; but that respect is subject to question when, from county to county and courtroom to courtroom, the judges are primarily of one race or ethnicity and the litigants and defendants are of another. The divide in California courtrooms is not quite that stark, but it is unmistakable. In a state in which about 40% of residents are non-Latino white, the Judicial Council reports that 72.3% of trial judges and appellate justices are white.

The House Judiciary Committee and Microsoft must have the same coaching staff. Bungling offense, inept defense. PAUL H. WANGSNESS Burbank

Egyptians are going to the polls to elect a democratic parliament, an experience they have not had for over half a century. This is an extraordinary and exhilarating event. What's remarkable about it, among other things, is that only a week before the plebiscite began, an on-schedule election was thought to be impossible. The media were predicting that a fair election could not be pulled off and that, if voting did occur, it would be bloody and violent. But Egyptians weren't daunted.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has issued a rare warning to the hard-line judiciary to stop prosecuting reformist members of parliament, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Hard-line courts regularly summon outspoken reformist parliamentarians and have sentenced at least three to prison. "It is part of [the members of parliament's] duties to freely express their opinions, and they must be immune from prosecution," Khatami said in a letter to the judiciary chief.

The continuing debate over whether or not candidates for political office should or should not endorse or oppose Rose Elizabeth Bird in her bid for reconfirmation to the Supreme Court demonstrates a woeful ignorance of, and disregard for, the cornerstone of our particular brand of democracy. The strength of our democracy lies in the strength of our Constitution and the separation of powers enunciated therein, calling for an independent executive, legislature, and judiciary. And the most important of these is the independent judiciary.

Your editorial states that the judiciary is the stabilizing force in the American system of government. In America, maybe. In California, hardly. If our judiciary were a stabilizing force, there would be no turmoil in this election. The Times further states, "the courts are not so easily swayed"--right on point. Rose Bird (59 for 59 death penalty reversals) supports this point 100%. But the really galling statement to California voters is where The Times implies that the California Supreme Court is, "the true conservative branch of government . . . that prevents the majority from trampling on the minority."

As a seeker of truth and justice, and as a student of the media, I must hereby assert myself to protest the abuse of the term "independence" by the judiciary and the media. Warren Christopher in his article (Editorial Pages, Sept. 23), "Justice Grodin's Fair-Weather Friend," uses the terms "independent judiciary," "judicial independence," and the word independence several times in his defense of the Gang of Three. Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird uses these same terms and ideas constantly in her defensive campaign.

Judging the judges Re "Gingrich might scrap certain judges, courts," Dec. 18 Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will surely put our country on a slippery slope, should he get elected president and carry out his threat to scrap certain federal judges and courts. The Supreme Court is supreme because we the people allow it to be; we recognize the need for a final arbiter. Should we allow someone, anyone, to circumvent the law, we will cease being a democracy. Very few Supreme Court decisions are unanimous, thereby telling us that even among carefully vetted jurists there is disagreement.

The attack on the federal judiciary by Republican candidates for president has reached a new low and should be denounced by liberals and conservatives alike. In November, Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced that if elected president, his "appointees to the federal bench will not receive a lifetime appointment. "Now Newt Gingrich has pledged that if he were elected he would defy Supreme Court rulings with which he disagreed and that judicial review to ensure that the government complies with the Constitution has been "grossly overstated.

Egyptians are going to the polls to elect a democratic parliament, an experience they have not had for over half a century. This is an extraordinary and exhilarating event. What's remarkable about it, among other things, is that only a week before the plebiscite began, an on-schedule election was thought to be impossible. The media were predicting that a fair election could not be pulled off and that, if voting did occur, it would be bloody and violent. But Egyptians weren't daunted.

The House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena Friday requiring the Department of Homeland Security to hand over the names of thousands of illegal immigrants who were arrested by local authorities over the last three years but not deported by immigration officials. The subpoena is the latest volley in a contentious debate between House Republicans and the Obama administration over its immigration policy, which makes deportation of illegal immigrants with criminal records a priority.

A bail offer for two Americans convicted of spying is still under review, Iran's powerful judiciary said Wednesday in a potentially embarrassing rejection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's prediction that their release could be in a matter of days. The statement by the hard-line judiciary appears to be a message that only its officials can set the timetables and conditions on any possible release and not the president, who is locked in a bitter power struggle with Iran's ruling clerics who control the courts.

Denouncing a proposal to cut $150 million out of a courts budget that has already absorbed a $200-million reduction, California's chief justice, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, recently warned that the "devastating and crippling" cuts would "threaten access to justice for all. " California's not alone. Last month, 350 court employees in New York were laid off to offset $170 million in cuts to the state judiciary's budget. Remarkably, 65 dismissed part-time judges continued to work as volunteers to ensure that the courts' indispensable work wouldn't grind to a halt.

In its endorsement for Los Angeles County Superior Court (editorial, May 29), The Times has: Promoted the dangerous notion that a small, vocal minority can dictate and impose its view on a larger majority of the community. Demonstrated its concern for the people by assaulting the judiciary, the one institution sworn to protect individual rights. Threatened the constitutional guarantee of a free and independent judiciary, one which is supposed to be above prevailing politics and pressure groups.

The Assembly's attempt to punish the California Supreme Court for approving the initiative on term limitations is just one more indication that legislators have come to view themselves as above the law. Worse, if the Legislature is allowed to carry through with this budgetary vendetta, it might do more than impair the day-to-day functioning of the court--it might undercut the independence of the judiciary here and elsewhere as judges seek to avoid...

The Senate Judiciary Committee has signed off on a bill that would criminalize websites that profit by streaming bootleg movies to consumers. The committee approved legislation that would make it a felony for operators of websites to make money from delivering pirated movies to consumers via online streaming. It's expected to be taken up by the full Senate later this year. Current anti-piracy laws, which were enacted in the 1990s, target the downloading of movies from so-called peer-to-peer websites but do not address the growing problem of online streaming of pirated content.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday unanimously approved a bill that seeks to rein in foreign websites that traffic in pirated movies and TV shows, a move that drew widespread support from a broad coalition of entertainment industry groups. Called the Protect IP Act, the proposed law is strongly backed by Hollywood's chief lobbying group, the Motion Picture Assn. of America, as well as the Independent Film & Television Alliance, the National Assn. of Theatre Owners and other industry and labor organizations.