Court Opinion

ID: 9772284
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:13:07.924249+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:43.322211
License: Public Domain

GRAVES, J.,
joins this opinion, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree with the majority’s analysis regarding whether a District Judge may employ the contempt power to punish the violation of another judge’s order entered in a different division under the facts presented, but respectfully disagree that the judge can disregard an order of the Chief District Judge.
*25In a multi-judge district, the Chief Judge is the delegate of this Court. We have outlined the duties and responsibilities of this position in SCR 1.040(3). Our rule mandates that the Chief Judge “supervise the administrative business of the court.” SCR 1.040(3)(g). In discharging those duties, a responsibility falls upon the Chief Judge to coordinate and interface with the many components that make up our justice system. One of the primary purposes of the Judicial Article was to provide uniformity, not only throughout the Court of Justice, but also in multi-judge districts and circuits. Achieving this purpose benefits the public, as well as the attorneys who only have to learn one set of rules and procedures in a particular district or circuit, not as many sets as there are individual judges. Being elected by his or her peers, the Chief Judge discusses proposed rules and procedures with the other judges in each particular district. It would be unusual for a Chief Judge to enact into local practice any procedure without the consent or consensus of his or her colleagues.
What the Supreme Court giveth, the majority opinion taketh away. The authority delegated to the Chief Judges of this Commonwealth by the provisions of SCR 1.040(3) is patently broad enough to encompass the order at issue in this case. Rather than empowering the Chief Judge to be an effective manager and administrator in his or her district consistent with the authority set out in the rule, I fear we hasten a return to the days plagued by inconsistency and a lack of uniformity. The public, the bench, and the bar deserve better.
WINTERSHEIMER, J., joins this concurring opinion.