If you ever visit the judges' new palace in Easton, be prepared for a rude awakening. First, you'll circle the campus, searching in vain for a place to park. Eventually, you'll just run out of gas and abandon your car. Then, you'll walk all over the place, trying to figure out how the hell to get in. Although there are thousands of doors, you can only enter at the most inconvenient place, the rotunda. That's located atop a steep hill that will make you feel like you've just conquered Mount Everest. Once you step in and put out the fire in your lungs, you'll be funneled into a search center. There, deputies have the thankless task of looking through your belongings to make sure you haven't come to kill anyone.Once I make it to the recorder's office, I hear the same tired complaints daily."They rooted through my purse!" ... "I had to spread my arms out like a criminal." Personally, I have no gripes with the deputies. They're just doing their jobs. The real villains are our paranoid judges, who illegally ordered these searches in the first place.
Illegal?
That's something I wouldn't say until today. Back in October, President Judge Freedberg just issued an edict, a court order, regulating how the building would be entered. It was thumb tacked to a few bulletin boards. No public hearing.
Our judges are terrified of the commoners. They have reserved parking with a private entrance, closed dining room and their very own judicial potties. Their "chambers" (a classy word for office) are located on a locked floor, guarded by vicious wolves. (OK, I made up the part about wolves). They're isolated and out of touch, a paranoid bunch. But I still wouldn't call Freedberg's manifesto illegal.
Until today.
That's because yesterday, our Commonwealth Court handed down its own ruling on those point of entry searches in Jefferson County. What they say trumps Freedberg. They outrank him.
Jefferson County, like Northampton County, has metal detectors, too. They're perfectly legal, and anyone screaming about an unreasonable search is wasting his breath. But a judge has no Godlike authority to determine unilaterally how people enter the government center. In Jefferson County, that power comes from an ordinance adopted by county commissioners. "[T]he County Code allows county commissioners to adopt ordinances regulating the affairs of a county. ... [T]he County Code allows county commissioners to prescribe fines and penalties for violations of a 'public safety' ordinance."
In Northampton County, this means county council. They are the body that adopts ordinances, but only after hearing from the public. They are also the residual power in the county and public access to row offices should be regulated by them. They are the only body with authority to impose penalties (in an ordinance) for persons who ignore requests to be searched.
President Judge Freedberg's October order usurps the authority that properly belongs with county council. It also denies the public the right to be heard. We peasants have rights, too.
