Lobbying by Judges and Courts

Article by Western Carolina University Professor Roger Hartley says:

While budgets are tight and the needs of adjudication come first, courts need to build capacity to effectively lobby, like other agencies and “model” courts in other states do. We know that state chief justices, state court administrators, and local presiding judges and court managers lobby. In prior work, I suggest that the selection and tenure of court leaders needs to be rethought in some states. Courts need to pay close attention to the political, advocacy, and management skills when selecting chief justices. Short tenure or rotation of court leaders is also a problem, as courts might lose important political capital and relationships built by effective court leaders over time.