Page 45 - CLT041221

CLOSING ARGUMENT APRIL 12, 2021 ¦ 45

EDITORIAL BOARD

school because they were
the wrong color. If they
had been white or Asian Sidebar: A Judicious Alternative

they would have been You have to wonder about the wisdom of Governor Lamont’s
accepted. recent decision to nominate fifteen new judges. Each judge will
cost the state approximately $175,000 a year, not including ben-
One wonders if that efits unrivaled in the private sector. None of these judges have
student would have asked any experience judging (although one was a family magistrate)
her mother if she could be
white when she grew up…
Talk about a message to and some have no trial experience whatsoever. These judicial
nominees will have to go to judge school to be trained, which
send to a kid about the im- will cost the state additional money.
pact of skin color. Against this backdrop, there are scores of senior judges and
In May, 2020, the State judicial trial referees who are well respected and have a wealth
of Connecticut’s Attorney of experience. Some of the senior judges are working for free;
General, William Tong, some, quite rightly, are not working at all because they are not
announced a milestone getting paid. If the judicial trial referees were to go to work, the
agreement in the de- state would only have to pay them a per diem amount of $250
cades-long Sheff v. O’Neil dollars, with no additional benefits. These senior judges and
desegregation case, to both judicial trial referees would need no training. The amount the
lift the cap on how many state could have saved by engaging some of the senior judges
students the state would and judicial trial referees rather than making fifteen new judges
fund, and to eliminate is in the millions.
race-based enrollment. We are not naïve to the fact that the making of new judges is
Now, instead, enrollment a political process. We have nothing against any of these new
decisions will be based judges, many of whom may one day become fine jurists. There
upon a family’s economic is a rumor that later in the General Assembly’s session another
background. That defini- class of judges will be nominated. We ask Governor Lamont to
tion will take into account reach out to the chief court administrator and ask that, instead
things like family income of the governor nominating any new judges, the chief court ad-
and highest level of educa- ministrator engage some of the senior judges and attorney trial
tion completed by parent referees. In the present state of affairs, the making of any new
or parents. judges is an unnecessary, and enormous cost to the state. It is
also an affront to many jurists who have earned our respect and
Because wealth often should not have to languish on the sidelines.
aligns with race and eth-
nicity, basing a lottery on
a family’s income and eco- them because there were too many rich families
nomic background is still expected to produce ahead of the student.
a diversified student body. This may result in a One wonders if that student would ask his
student from a wealthy family getting a priority or her mother if he could be rich when he
over a low-income student, but now a student grew up… Talk about a message to send to a
who doesn’t get admitted can be told by his kid about the importance of working hard and
or her mother that they didn’t have room for seeking to be richer.
¦

CONNECTICUT
Law Tribune