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January 2010 Vol

-SJI New

. 20, No. 4 

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IMMIGRATION IN THE STATE COURTS PROJECT 

IDENTIFIES KEY POLICY ISSUES 

During their work on a SJI-funded Strategic Initiatives Grant, the Center for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) has 

found that one of the biggest challenges to addressing the impacts of immigration in the state courts is a lack of 

agreement about the appropriate answers to very difficult policy questions. In particular, CPPS has found that 

the jurisdictions now participating as pilot learning sites (Maricopa County, Arizona; Miami-Dade County, 

Florida; Western Minnesota; Delaware; and the District and Circuit Courts in seven counties located in SouthEastern Michigan), are struggling with issues such as: 

Adjudicating cases involving undocumented/illegal immigrants

For example, should undocumented immigrants be taken into custody and potentially be removed from the U.S. 

by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at any point prior to state court case disposition? Should 

undocumented immigrants be taken into custody and potentially be removed from the U.S. by ICE, postsentencing, or after they have completed all or a portion of a sentence? Should child protection and juvenile 

cases involving undocumented family members and violence against women cases be processed any differently 

than cases involving lawful permanent residents and U.S. citizens? 

Assuring procedural justice 

For example, to what extent should the state courts promote respect and understanding, and display neutrality, 

by giving all immigrants the chance to be heard and the opportunity to understand what is happening in court? 

Unintended consequences of state court actions

Should trial judges, court personnel, and attorneys understand and consider the consequences of state court 

decisions on immigration status? (continued on page 2) 

President Nominates Six to 

Serve on Board of Directors 2, 3

Immigration & the State Courts Project 

Identifies Key Policy Issues 1, 2

Inside

New Mexico Justice System 

Interpreter Project 4, 5 
Assisting the federal government in regulating immigration

Should the courts provide state court case information in formats that can be used in co-occurring or subsequent 

federal immigration case processing? Should they check litigant immigration status? Should they report 

suspected undocumented immigrants? Should they report lawful permanent resident immigrants convicted of 

crimes that could make them removable from the United States? 

Providing services to immigrants

Should the state courts provide lawful and undocumented immigrants state court case processing, sanctioned 

treatment, and other services at the same levels available to non-immigrant court users? 

CPPS has learned that these are but a few of the issues surrounding immigration issues in the state courts, and 

the pilot sites are approaching them in various manners. The sites are tailoring their responses to both federal 

requirements and their specific jurisdictional needs. 

PRESIDENT NOMINATES SIX TO SERVE ON BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

By law, SJI is supervised by a Board of Directors consisting of 11 members appointed by the President with the 

advice and consent of the Senate. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 10703, the President appoints 6 judges and 1 state 

court administrator from a list of candidates submitted to the President by the Conference of Chief Justices 

(CCJ). In addition, the President also appoints 4 public member positions, no more than 2 of whom can be from 

the same political party. 

Recently, the President made the following nominations: 

Chief Justice James Hannah – Currently serving as Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court. He was 

first elected as an Associate Justice in 2000 and re-elected as Chief Justice in 2004 and 2008. Prior to serving 

on the Arkansas Supreme Court, he served as a Chancery/Probate Judge in the 17th Judicial District from 1979 

to 1999. He has also served on the CCJ Board and is currently serving as Co-Chair of the Committee on 

Families and Courts. In addition, he sits on the U.S. Supreme Court Judicial Conference Committee on 

Federal-State Jurisdiction. (continued on page 3) 

Page 2 E-SJI News – Vol. 20, No. 4 
Daniel Becker – Has served as State Court Administrator at the Administrative Office of the Courts for the 

State of Utah since 1995. In that capacity, he is responsible to the Utah Supreme Court and Utah Judicial 

Council for the administration of the state court system. From 1984 to 1995, Mr. Becker worked for the North 

Carolina AOC, serving in the positions of Deputy Director (1993-1995), Court Services Administrator (1986-

1993) and Assistant to the Director (1984-1986). He also held the position of Trial Court Administrator for the 

14th Judicial District of North Carolina, and Assistant Director of Operations for the Georgia AOC. Mr. Becker 

was the recipient of the 2006 Warren E. Burger Award for Excellence in Judicial Administration. 

Gayle A. Nachtigal – Currently a Circuit Court Judge in Washington County, Oregon. She has been a judge 

since 1991, serving as Presiding Judge from 1996 to 2002. She is currently the Lead Judge on Criminal Court 

Assignments. Judge Nachtigal is also involved in the American Judges Association where she served as 

Secretary, First and Second Vice President, and President. From 1999 to 2005, Judge Nachtigal served on the 

board of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), and currently serves on NCSC’s Court Consulting 

Advisory Board. 

John Nalbandian – Currently a partner in the Litigation Department of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. He 

concentrates on appellate and general litigation in state and federal courts and is a member of the firm's 

Appellate Practice. Mr. Nalbandian has represented clients in a wide range of legal areas including antitrust, 

products liability, intellectual property, employment, white collar crime, and class actions. He also has 

extensive experience in administrative and international law. Mr. Nalbandian is a member of the Ohio, 

Kentucky, Virginia, and District of Columbia Bars, and Ohio State, Cincinnati, and Kentucky Bar Associations. 

Marsha J. Rabiteau – Currently a policy consultant with Rabiteau Consulting, where she works on a number 

of policy, legislative, and court rules issues. Previously, she served as Associate General Counsel and 

consultant on legal reform for Koch Industries, Inc. Prior to Koch, Ms. Rabiteau was Vice President & 

Assistant General Counsel, Director of Civil Justice Policy for The Hartford Financial Services Group. From 

1989 to 2001, she was Litigation Counsel and Crisis Manager for The Dow Chemical Company. She has 

participated as the chair or co-chair of the following organizations: Civil Justice Reform Group Operating 

Committee; Product Liability Advisory Council Foundation; IADC Class Action and Aggregated Torts 

Committee; and Federalist Society Litigation Practice Group. She is a member of the National Judicial 

College’s Advisory Council, and a member of the Michigan and Wisconsin Bars.

Hernán D. Vera – Currently the President & Chief Executive Officer of Public Counsel, the nation’s largest 

pro bono, public interest law firm. He is the first Latino leader of the 40-year-old civil rights organization, 

which is based in Los Angeles. Prior to joining Public Counsel in 2002, Mr. Vera was a commercial litigator 

with the international firm of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, where he specialized in class actions. Mr. Vera has 

also worked as an Education Staff Attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and 

clerked for the Honorable Consuelo B. Marshall, U.S. District Court Judge for the Central District of California. 

He makes frequent media appearances on issues relating to access to justice, civil rights, and consumer 

protection. 

SJI will provide updates as these nominees progress through the Senate confirmation process. 

Page 3 E-SJI News – Vol. 20, No. 4 
NEW MEXICO JUSTICE SYSTEM 

INTREPRETER RESOURCE PARTNERSHIP 

In FY 2008, SJI awarded a Project Grant (SJI-08-N-173) to the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Court 

for the New Mexico Justice System Interpreter Resource Partnership. The partnership is currently assisting 

justice system agencies by providing a shared capacity for recruitment, screening, and training of interpreters in 

New Mexico. Through these efforts, the partnership has coordinated interpreter services across the justice 

system, and enhanced entry-level training and continuing education for interpreters. This has increased both the 

number and quality of trained interpreters in the state. 

The partnership’s specific objectives are to implement and maintain: 

1. A registry of qualified interpreters recruited and trained based on regionally identified needs of the 

partnership member agencies. 

2. Training and testing to qualify interpreters for work throughout the justice system, and provide a 

foundation for certification as court interpreters or advanced training in other specific areas of focus (i.e. 

juvenile justice, corrections, etc.). 

3. Training for groups and agencies on the roles, responsibilities, and professional ethics expected of 

qualified interpreters and those who work with them. 

4. Increased accountability in ensuring meaningful access by limited English-speaking persons to justice 

system services; consistent with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Executive Order 13166. 

Key partners include the New Mexico State Police, the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families 

Department, the University of New Mexico – Los Alamos, Dona Ana and Central New Mexico Community 

Colleges, and the Supreme Court/AOC. The New Mexico Translators and Interpreters Association and the 

Access to Justice Commission are also currently involved in the partnership. 

The partnership decided to first focus on Objective #2 – training and testing to qualify interpreters for work 

through the justice system. The successful development of a professional recruitment and training mechanism 

was identified as the necessary foundation for progress towards the other three objectives. The SJI grant 

supported these activities for the first year of the project, including the creation of the New Mexico Center for 

Language Access (NMCLA) to train and produce qualified court interpreters. 

The AOC was awarded a second grant in FY 2009 (SJI-09-N-157) to continue working on the partnership’s 

objectives. During Phase II, the partnership will focus on: 1) strengthening the NMCLA; 2) developing and 

delivering training for all levels of justice system agency personnel and the judiciary – this training will be 

agency-specific, and will focus on the roles, responsibilities, and professional ethics of qualified/certified 

interpreters, and compliance with Title IV of the Civil Rights Act; and (continued on page 4) 

Page 4 E-SJI News – Vol. 20, No. 4 
Board of Directors

Chairman

Robert A. Miller 

Chief Justice (Ret.) 

Supreme Court of South Dakota 

Pierre, SD 

Vice Chairman

Joseph F. Baca 

Chief Justice (Ret.) 

New Mexico Supreme Court 

Santa Fe, NM 

Secretary

Sandra A. O’Connor 

States Attorney of Baltimore 

County (Ret.) 

Towson, MD 

Executive Committee Member

Keith McNamara, Esq. 

McNamara & McNamara 

Columbus, OH 

Terrence B. Adamson, Esq. 

Executive Vice-President 

The National Geographic Society 

Robert N. Baldwin 

Executive Vice President and 

General Counsel 

National Center for State Courts 

Sophia H. Hall 

Administrative Presiding Judge 

Circuit Court of Cook County 

Chicago, IL 

Tommy Jewell 

Presiding Children’s Court Judge 

(Ret.) 

Second Judicial District Court 

Albuquerque, NM 

Arthur A. McGiverin 

Chief Justice (Ret.) 

Supreme Court of Iowa 

Des Moines, IA 

Janice Munsterman 

Executive Director 

Jonathan Mattiello 

Deputy Director 

The State Justice Institute is a 

private, non-profit corporation 

established by Federal law in 1984 

to improve the quality of justice in 

state courts, and foster innovative, 

efficient solutions to common 

issues faced by all courts. SJI is 

governed by a Board of Directors 

appointed by the President and 

confirmed by the Senate. 

3) creating and maintaining an Interpreter Registry of Justice System 

Interpreters (qualified through NMCLA) for use across partner agencies and 

by other publicly-funded services. 

The final grant report from Phase I of the project is available on SJI’s website. 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS 

3⁄4 Next grant and scholarship application deadline: February 1, 2010 

(2nd Quarter, FY 2010). 

3⁄4 The Board will meet on March 25, 2010, to make grant awards for the 

2nd Quarter. 

3⁄4 Grant and scholarship application deadlines for the remainder of the 

fiscal year: May 1, 2010 (3rd Quarter) and August 1, 2010 (4th

Quarter). 

3⁄4 Current and future grantees and scholarship recipients can choose to 

receive payments via EFT. This is a faster method of receiving 

payment from SJI. To participate in EFT, SJI will need a completed

SF 3881-Automated Clearing House (ACH)/Miscellaneous Payment 

Enrollment Form, which is available on the SJI website under the 

Forms tab. 

Page 5 E-SJI News – Vol. 20, No. 4