CHAPEL HILL -- Cost-cutting has strained the state court system's ability to administer justice and protect the public just when those services are needed most, North Carolina's chief justice said Wednesday night.
Sarah Parker, chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court, spoke at a dinner in Chapel Hill sponsored by the N.C. Press Association. All of the court's seven justices attended.
"The workload of our state courts is mind-boggling," Parker said. Though the court system has had to cut costs along with all other branches of state government, businesses and individuals continue to declare bankruptcy, thieves continue to steal, spouses abuse each other, and it all ends up at the local courthouse.
"No aspect of life ... is not touched by the courts," she said.
If anything, the need for an efficient, independent and accessible court system is greatest when the economy is at its worst. To protect public safety and to guard people's freedoms in such times, Parker said, "the rule of law must be at is strongest."
Parker, who was elected to the court in 1992 and has been chief justice since February 2006, spoke for almost a half hour on the challenges facing the court system.
Adequate funding for the courts will continue to be a problem for at least a year or two, Parker said. The system has cut dozens of vacant positions and has had to pare down its spending for nearly everything else: transportation, computers, courtroom interpreters, phone service, paper clips and other basic supplies.
She said there is never enough money in legal aid offices, where those who can't afford to hire lawyers seek help and where fewer than 20 percent who ask will receive it. Without legal aid, Parker said, the poor are less likely to be able to get access to health care, decent housing and protection against domestic violence.
Parker said she is confident, however, that the court system will survive the economic crisis without having to close courts. In addition to being a building block of democracy, the judicial system is a big business. Across the state, she said, 6,000 people are employed in the system.
The ultimate challenge, Parker said, is preserving the rule of law, which requires convincing the legislature and the public that the court system is as important a part of the state's infrastructure as roads, education and health care.
Parker's term ends in 2014.
