RALEIGH – North Carolina’s new Chief Justice Mark Martin wants to modernize the state’s judicial system technologically as he seeks more stable funding for the courts.
In 1996, North Carolina’s state supreme court became the nation’s first to initiate an e-filing program, allowing attorneys to file briefs and motions electronically rather than having to mail or hand-deliver paper copies to court clerks.
“Back in that session, the clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court came to Raleigh to see what we’d done,” Martin said. “We were a real leader.”
But over the past two decades, North Carolina hasn’t kept pace. “In many states, e-filing has now extended to county courthouses,” Martin said. Many North Carolina counties have not adopted that technology, he said.
Martin said electronic filing of court documents would be more convenient for citizens and promote transparency.
He said Associate Justice Barbara Jackson will chair a commission on technology in the state’s courts. Martin said his preference would be to start this “virtual courthouse” with civil cases, perhaps at the district civil court level. Such an effort would allow attorneys and participants in litigation to file briefs, motions, and other documents electronically, doing away with the need to file them at a courthouse or mail documents days before a filing deadline.
“I do think now that we’re trailing the 35 states [with statewide virtual filing] and the federal government, the sooner we move forward the more we’ll save,” Martin said. “Waiting a whole lot longer will just make [it] more difficult to catch up.”
Another one of Martin’s goals is to pursue adequate and sustainable funding of the state’s court system.
“This is a real issue,” Martin said. “It’s not some make-believe issue.” Martin noted, for instance, that the court system has 11 unfilled court reporter positions.
Court and judicial fees have accounted for an increasing share of the judicial system’s budget over the past couple of decades. According to the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts, in the 1997-98 fiscal year, court fees made up 36 percent of the system’s budget. It reached a high of 57 percent in the 2011-12 fiscal year. This year, it’s projected to be 54 percent.
“There have been a lot of increases in those fees,” Martin said. “The higher you raise those fees, the harder you make it for the middle class to access the court system.”
The court system will find itself competing with other parts of state government for General Fund appropriations at a time there are calls for increases in teacher and state employee pay, greater spending for highways, and a continuing increase in Medicaid spending and other health benefits.
Rep. Sarah Stevens, R-Surry, chairwoman of the N.C. Courts Commission and a member of a legislative oversight committee on justice and public safety, said she thinks funds will have to come from general revenues rather than increasing court fees.
“We can’t nickel and dime [court users] because we don’t have much more to nickel and dime about,” Stevens said. She said fees are already high: $90 for an eviction adjudicated in small claims court; $75 for divorce; and $190 for a traffic violation.
Continually increasing fees makes the court system “less accessible to the general public,” Stevens said. “We can’t keep doing that.”
Stevens continued: “It’s the third branch of the government and it should be treated with respect.”
Martin has some other goals for the court system. They include:
• Promoting civics education. He’s pushing to incorporate more information about the judicial system into school curriculums, and enhance public understanding of the role of the courts as one of three co-equal branches of government.
• Improving the justice system’s mental health resources for individuals and families. He’s hoping the court system can help individuals and families proactively address substance abuse issues. He also wants to evaluate establishing mental health courts within the justice system.
• Strengthening the rule of law. This includes supporting activities that promote awareness of the rule of law and its importance to the preservation of our constitutional rights and responsibilities.
Neither Martin nor Stevens could place a price tag on the technology and funding improvements. Martin is hoping to get some answers from consultants and the commission that Jackson will lead.
“Everything is in a very preliminary posture right now,” Martin said. He said that initial reception from legislators has been positive.
Martin amplified Stevens’ comments on the importance the judicial branch of government. “Public safety and the courts are among the most ancient functions of government,” he said.
Barry Smith (@Barry_Smith) is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.