California court budget cuts

SAN FRANCISCO—This county's presiding superior court judge stood at the lectern and looked out at the bank of television cameras and assembled press. She took a deep breath.

"This is the saddest and most heartwrenching day I have experienced in my professional life," said Judge Katherine Feinstein, the daughter of California's senior U.S senator.

As San Francisco's top judge, it fell to Feinstein to close the court's $13.75 million budget hole. On Monday, she announced that she was laying off 40 percent of the court's work force and shuttering 25 of 63 courtrooms and all but putting the civil division out of business. ...

Courts in all 58 counties are grappling with a third straight year of budget cuts that have reduced spending by an unprecedented 30 percent over that period. Hundreds of workers have been laid off across the state and thousands more placed on unpaid furloughs. ...

"It has never been worse," said Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who took over as the state's top judge in January after serving as trial court judge and appellate jurist since 1990.

I will not believe that they have a money problem as long as they are expending so many resources on cases that do not need to be litigated. My ex-wife and I had a signed marital settlement agreement in 2003, and there has never been any good reason for the court to intervene. She has bombarded the court with thousands of pages of complaints, but no one has been able to identify any wrongdoing on my part. And yet the court keeps having motions, hearings, evaluations, trials, etc. No good has come from any of it.