Cappy's Resignation Letter

Blue Coyote has published Chief Justice Ralp Cappy's resignation letter to Governer Rendell. I've been highly critical of Cappy's tenure. But after reading his goodbye, I feel a little ashamed. Cappy is obviously a good and decent man.

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court: They Work Hard for the Money

They work hard for the money. That's right, bippy. But we're not suitably grateful. Thanks to us, there's only six justices on Pennsylvania's Supreme Court. There used to be seven, but voters tossed one of them over an illegal payraise for judges that will cost us $14 million.

Ralph Cappy, the Supremes' boss, is now the highest paid official in Pennsylvania, with an annual salary of $180,336. The little supremes aren't far behind, pulling down $175,236 each. This, of course, is in addition to an unlimited expense account for judicial bottles of beaujolais.

Cappy sees no reason to listen to public concern over his payjacking or outrageous perks claimed by the supremes. After all, the public is just a "special interest group." That money is needed to "attract and retain" quality judges.

Presumably, quality judges are judges willing to work.

Just how hard do Ralph and his pals really work? Work, for an appellate judge, consists of writing opinions. That's how law is made. Other judges and lawyers rely on these opinions to interpret statutes and ordinances.

Well, this month, our top judges have yet to publish a single opinion. Oh sure, they hand down lots of rulings. They go something like this - "AND NOW, this 13th day of February, 2007, appellant's petition for allowance of appeal is DENIED." Gee, I could do that. I just did.

I've looked at 2006 to see just how many real opinions were released, whether they were majority opinions or dissents. Over an entire year, there were only 258 opinions, or 43 per justice. That's under one opinion every week! And these guys have law clerks who do most of the writing.

These dudes would not survive in the blogosphere. Chris Casey, the Buddha of Blogging, has 258 opinions every day!