...you can't be serious... I don't think I can blog about this on my work blog, but the Jail for Judges nut just made the news again. Morning Edition had a brief interview with some spokespeople and some voters who are heading to the polls today to vote on the J.A.I.L. bill again. If you haven't heard of Ron Branson, here's a quick autobiography:

Ron Branson, author, "Judicial Accountability Initiative Law." http://www.jail4judges.org/

Born in 1946, Ronald Branson joined the U.S. Military in 1963. He had a very strict and straight-laced view of "just doing his job." Part of his military time was spent as a Prison Chaser over prisoners at Fort Belvoir. VA. He presided over work details and regularly strip-searched the prisoners. He quickly gained the respect of his superiors, and took on the reputation as the strictest Prison Chaser within the prison compound, having disciplined more prisoners than all other Prison Chasers collectively.

Ron's legal pursuits within the courts began in 1982 when he engaged the County of Los Angeles over their refusal to give a mandatory civil service hearing to a sixteen year employee of the county holding civil service protection. Armed with the law and facts on his side, he took on the County of Los Angeles in the courts only to find that the law and the facts were irrelevant in the judicial system, and that despite mandatory duty, politics ruled the courts, not the law. He found that not only were the courts out-and-out contemptuous of the law, but also riddled with absolute facial conflicts, such as the counsel for the county being also counsel for the judges hearing the cases against the county. When he moved for change of venue due to conflict of interest, his motion was denied. When he sued the state judge in federal court, the defendant counsel in the state case would also appear representing the very state judge before which they were also were a defendant. It got so crazy that the government did not even attempt any longer to hide their conflict. It because so obvious as if they sat as judge in a case against themselves as defendant. He has even had the judge admit that he never read anything filed in his court by this plaintiff. And so it was in federal court, the federal judge also having worked for the same county which was then a defendant before him. It was an absolutely fix with no possibility of redress.

Highly motivated to create a remedy for the availability of redress of grievance, Ron, in 1995 wrote, in two days, the original initiative then called "The Judicial Reform Act of 1996." In 1997 it was renamed "The Judicial Accountability Initiative Law", J.A.I.L., in which a website was drawn out www.jail4judges.org.

With a goal of “Liberty and Justice for All” Ron's objective is to make J.A.I.L. a nationwide cause among all people that will restore the Constitution and the laws to this country as our Founding Fathers had envisioned it. People across the country are now clamoring for the hope that JAIL offers. There is no doubt in Ron's mind that JAIL will one day become the hottest, largest, and most controversial political hot potato that this nation has recently faced.

Mr. Branson’s chief characteristics is truth, ethics, and principle. He detests politics. Starting in 1996 Mr. Branson was three times elected to a two-year term as representative in the 38th Assembly District, L.A.R.C.C.C. By the year 2002 his duties within J.A.I.L. had become so demanding so as to require his full time, in which he now serves at its Five-Star National J.A.I.L. Commander-In-Chief, with a national following that currently includes 49 states and three foreign nations.

Ron's complete Bio
Riiiiight. Anyone that describes themselves so heroically automatically has my suspicion. after a little digging, I found out that Mr. Branson has a couple of petty crime charges against him that he's fought tooth-and-nail over for the last 15 years (apparently the charges are part of the vast conspiracy to shut him down). Oh, and there's more...

The JAIL Site. This site is extreme and a little incoherent, but it's supposedly got more than 60,000 petition signatures (as heard on NPR, didn't catch a link yet :( ) and is up to be voted on statewide. Advocates have already threatened to take this movement to other states if it tanks there.

The group's proposed measure would wipe out a basic doctrine called judicial immunity. This protects judges from personal liability for doing their job ruling on the cases before them. A special grand jury, above and outside the courts and other branches of government, would indict judges for "offenses" of error.

From Slate:

J.A.I.L. 4 Judges is an Internet-era creation, pulling together a disparate national network of tax protesters, conspiracy theorists, jury-nullification supporters, and assorted others with grievances against the courts and modern government. Its Web site claims to have 50 state chapters, whose leaders sport the rank of "Major General" or "JAILer-In-Chief." The Alaska JAILer in chief has been known to parade around dressed in black robes, with a noose around his neck and scaffolding above his head, before shedding the robes and burning them. J.A.I.L.'s supporters have picketed the homes of offending judges and generated e-mail campaigns—sometimes laced with electronic viruses and worms—against the Anti-Defamation League, reporters, and legislators over statements that upset them. Supporters and like-minded groups have filed hundreds of Freedom of Information requests seeking information about judges' personal lives and property, along with challenges claiming that judicial oaths are invalid or not properly filed.

How much more directly can we attack judicial power? I can't say judges are perfect, but they are not the villians Branson paints them to be. And if this passes, won't the system (or this new review system) be flooded with the disgrundled applicants? And, facing that, who's going to build their career in a field where 3 people can convince a committee to disagree with your decision and you're canned for life? This kind of anti-authority rhetoric is all over the net, and definitely worth a google, but it's a little scary to see it being seriously considered as legislation.  ¶   0 comments