LEGAL INTELLIGENCER COLUMN: …In this flurry of charges and counter-charges, the bar and the courts have side-stepped a major issue. There is substantial evidence that employees of the attorney general have been communicating privately with the judiciary. This includes attorney general personnel and judges involved in both civil and criminal cases. A number of people have been dismissed from employment, or have retired. There are many others still employed in the Attorney General’s Office or in other prosecutors’ offices. What was the extent of these communications? How many attorney general personnel and members of the judiciary were involved? These figures, and the identity of the people involved, have never been fully disclosed. The fact that such people may no longer be employed by the attorney general or are no longer a member of the judiciary should not be a reason for not making an inquiry. What effect has the private communications had on what should be the arm’s-length relationship between the prosecutor and the court?
I urge that the Supreme Court take steps as it did in the McCaffery affair, but to go further and appoint a special counsel to examine what effect these private communications had on cases before the courts. The special counsel would have the power to empanel a grand jury, summon witnesses, and make findings that would assist the Supreme Court. The special counsel should have the mandate and power to interview the senders and the recipients of these emails, and determine what other private relationships exist…
It is time for the Supreme Court to put this tawdry affair to rest, move beyond the allegations and counter-allegations of the Kane prosecution, and address a major issue: the corruption of the judiciary… (more)
