Court Opinion

ID: 9731525
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:48:48.520927+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:19.171814
License: Public Domain

LOUIS J. CECI, J.
(concurring). I agree with the majority that the reprimand of Judge Warren A. Grady is a warranted disciplinary measure for his persistent failure to perform official duties in order to promptly dispose of cases submitted to him for decision and for his failure to organize his court for prompt disposition of judicial business.
I also agree with the majority’s decision to hold sec. 757.025, Stats., unconstitutional on the grounds that the statute’s prescription of time limits for judicial decisions falls within an area of authority exclusively vested in the judicial branch of the government.
I write separately, however, because I believe that this is an appropriate case to draw attention to what I feel is a growing problem facing the judiciary of this state. As the majority notes in its opinion, the judicial conduct panel found that because of the court reorganization in 1978, Judge Grady’s delay in deciding cases was partly due to the “substantial number and increased variety of cases assigned to him.” Supra, at p. 765. The judge’s work load during the years of 1979 through 1982 was characterized by the panel as “heavy.” The panel also found that Judge Grady had no law clerks, interns, secretary, fulltime clerk, or commissioners working in his court. Supra, at p 770.
The majority accepted these findings of fact. The ■majority also concluded that the “efficient and effective functioning of the court system” falls within the administrative authority over the state courts that is vested in the supreme court. Supra, at p. 783.
*802Because the efficient and effective functioning of the court system is within the administrative authority of this court, I believe that we should be concerned with the heavy work load of the judiciary and the lack of any statewide system or plan which guarantees circuit court judges access to secretaries, fulltime clerks, etc., for purposes of organizing their case loads. We should also be concerned with the fact that in spite of the alarmingly high number of cases filed in courts like Judge Grady’s, which was 744 for one year, there is likewise no statewide plan which provides circuit judges with the assistance of law clerks for research purposes.1 Yet we expect our judges, without such assistance, to promptly dispose of all cases, whether simple or complex, submitted to their courts for decision.
The purpose of today’s adoption of SCR 70.35, to alert judicial administrative offices of the need for the assignment of additional personnel or that other steps must be taken in order to ensure the prompt disposition of cases, is a step in the right direction. But it is only that — a single step. Although the problems I have pointed out do not excuse Judge Grady’s conduct in the case at hand, I believe that in the future, we may witness instances where in spite of mammoth efforts by circuit judges to promptly dispose of their cases within the limits set down by this court, they are unable to do so without the assistance I have mentioned.

 We take judicial notice of the fact that federal district court judges are provided with the services of two fulltime clerks.