Oklahoma Western District Court Among the Slowest in the Country
Justice delayed is justice denied.
The quote has been attributed to William Ewart Gladstone, who said it in the House of Commons in 1868. It’s also been attributed to myriad others, including Jethro in Exodus 18:22 and versions of the phrase used by William Penn, Martin Luther King Jr., and Warren Burger.
Three federal judges in Oklahoma’s Western District hold 162 of the 170 motions that are more than six months old, placing the district 82nd of 94 in efficiency. Those three judges, Scott Palk, Charles Goodwin and Jodi Dishman, together are responsible for 47% of the state’s 248 motions that have been in the works for more than 180 days.
The judges wouldn’t talk to Jake Ramsey for the story. Neither would anyone at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has oversight authority. Neither would any Oklahoma lawyers Jake contacted for the story, all citing fear of retribution should they ever have a case in front of one of those judges.
Off the record, they had plenty to say, some of it quite colorful. They expressed concern for their clients, whose livelihoods often hang on a judge’s decision.
Most other judges have a backlog of five motions or fewer. Randomized case assignments, with a system to ensure caseloads and complexity remain balanced, suggest that judges with no backlog have about the same amount of work as those who perpetually have more than fifty motions gathering dust.
Federal district court judges get lifetime appointments and annual taxpayer-funded salaries of $243,300.
Read Jake’s story to learn how little accountability those judges face and how slowly the wheels are turning.
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“A sense of confidence in the courts is essential to maintain the fabric of ordered liberty for a free people and three things could destroy that confidence and do incalculable damage to society: that people come to believe that inefficiency and delay will drain even a just judgment of its value; that people who have long been exploited in the smaller transactions of daily life come to believe that courts cannot vindicate their legal rights from fraud and over-reaching; that people come to believe the law — in the larger sense — cannot fulfill its primary function to protect them and their families in their homes, at their work, and on the public streets.”
— Warren Burger
Ciao for now,
Ted Streuli
Executive Director, Oklahoma Watch
