Judge Curtis Collier
Senior United States District Judge Curtis Collier spoke to approximately 40 members of the Chattanooga Kiwanis Club during their weekly lunch meeting Tuesday, addressing the danger he sees being posed to democracy by a lack of public confidence in the American judicial system.
Judge Collier, who is taking senior status, opened his speech by saying that he believes Americans are the freest people to have lived in the history of the world.
He credited that to the work of generations of ancestors working with perseverance through adversity to create institutions, primarily the courts, which would guarantee personal liberty.
However, he raised the point that those essential institutions are increasingly in danger of being undermined by the very communities they seek to serve. Declining public interest in and knowledge of the judicial system’s function in society endangers the system itself and could potentially incapacitate it if that trend continues.
According to the judge, personal liberty sets America apart from every other nation on earth, but that separation poses its own types of problems given the judiciary’s dependence on support from the population.
He said, “We are different. We are a different nation and because of that we are much more fragile.”
Judge Collier pointed to several national surveys that demonstrated this trend of declining public interest and support, including a 2012 CBS poll which revealed only 44 percent of those polled approved of what the Supreme Court was doing, an all-time low. Another poll, this time by US News revealed only one third of those polled could name a member of the Supreme Court while only one percent could name all nine.
He went on to explain that this was distinctly problematic for the judicial system since public support and participation is essential to its survival.
“Tyrants, legislatures, parliaments and other government institutions can survive without public confidence or support,” Judge Collier said, “Courts can’t.”
The population must be willing to comply with rulings and be aware of decisions made, especially since the courts wield so much power to shape the country, he said.
He also said the judiciary faces problems of conflict with the other branches of government in addition to potentially crippling public apathy. Despite receiving their funding from Congress, courts consistently have to make rulings that are unfavorable to those elected officials.
According to him, it is entirely possible that frustrated members of government might try to bully those judges who conflict with them by limiting funding - a serious problem given that the judiciary’s funding is only .2 percent of the federal budget.
But even though Judge Collier sees the situation as grim, he also articulated that public education by citizens like the Kiwanis Club members, a group he praised as community leaders, could remedy these issues. By participating personally and encouraging the community to do likewise, a possible crisis could be averted.