(This is one of a weekly series of posts entitled “A Centrist’s Platform”. The complete collection of Centrist’s Platform posts is available on a single page, or via a special RSS feed.)
One of the biggest sources of silliness I see in America today is just how litigation-happy our society seems to have become.
Yes, there is no question in my mind that when a person, business, or other entity errs and harms another, indemnification is in order. The threat of punitive damages is a handy incentive for Big Business to not behave badly. And I don’t, as a matter of principle, share conservatives’ fear of “activist judges”.
However, some of the, um, “creative” legal theories espoused by some judges, and the grandstanding by certain attorneys general is certainly sufficient to give even well-behaved businesses a healthy sense of paranoia, and a desire to avoid admitting wrongdoing except when absolutely necessary.
No, AG offices and the judiciary aren’t the sole cause of litigation madness in this country. But they do play a role, I think.
Maybe it’s my imagination, but casual observation has me wondering about a correlation between how judges and AGs are selected, and their respective nuttiness. After all, when political motivations are in play (such as a desire to be reelected, or a desire to support the leader upon whom your appointment depends), they do expose one to the potential for less-than-purely-objective thought.
Here in Connecticut, we’re treated to quite a bit of entertaining grandstanding by Attorneys General, both by what we see from our own AG Blumenthal, plus the entertainment that can be derived by watching Massachusetts’ AG at work. Previously, we also had the regional entertainment of New York’s former AG Spitzer.
And while I have personal reason to be thankful for the tenacity of Blumenthal’s office, I can’t help but wonder how much of his antics are politically motivated, rather than a promotion of justice and the rule-of-law in the state.
So, I’m left wondering — should we, as a society, be looking for more objective ways to select our Attorneys General and our judges?
Perhaps moving to a system where such individuals were identified by bipartisan/nonpartisan committee, and appointed to terms detached from our current election cycles would promote a bit more stability, fairness and predictability.
It may be boring, but sometimes boring is good for society.