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Posted: July 21, 2003
ORDER IN THE
COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION, PLEASE
The Delaware State Bar Association is trying
to restore some decorum to a vociferous death-penalty debate that
has left the state's legal profession, normally a fairly stuffy lot,
kicking the stuffings out of itself.
The bar association activated its Committee
on Response to Public Comment, which responds on behalf of the court
system when judges are criticized unfairly and not in a position to
defend themselves.
The committee largely has taken the side of
Chief Justice E. Norman Veasey. Courteously.
Late last week it issued a statement signed
by Charles S. McDowell, the bar association president, and Richard
D. Kirk, the committee chair. The committee refrained from the
verbal slaps that have abounded.
There was no trace of such rowdyisms as
Superior Court Judge John E. Babiarz Jr. accusing the Supreme Court
of misinterpreting the law and urging the General Assembly to
correct it.
There was nothing like the chief justice
writing tartly to the state prosecutor, "I take you at your word
that you did not intentionally ram this bill through the General
Assembly at the eleventh hour in a stealth manner in order to evade
vetting it."
There was no hint of a counterpunch similar
to Attorney General M. Jane Brady's letter, in which she told the
chief justice he was discourteous, misleading and "wholly
inconsistent with the notions of civility you purport to advance."
To read the letters in this exchange, here
are links:
JULY 8, 2003 -- LETTER FROM STATE PROSECUTOR
STEVEN P. WOOD TO VEASEY
JULY 9, 2003 -- LETTER FROM VEASEY TO WOOD
JULY 10, 2003 -- REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION
FROM GOV. RUTH ANN MINNER
JULY 11, 2003 -- ADVISORY OPINION
JULY 14, 2003 -- LETTER FROM BRADY TO VEASEY
JULY 18, 2003 -- STATEMENT FROM BAR ASSOCIATION
For other stories:
JULY 10, 2003 -- "AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR IN A
STEALTH MANNER"
JULY 15, 2003 --
THEN THE ATTORNEY GENERAL SAID TO THE CHIEF JUSTICE
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