The court of The North Pacific finds itself in a curious situation. Following the resignation of former Chief Justice Romanoffia, his successor Chief Justice SillyString has, along with Justices Kiwi and Ator People, conducted the business of the court in a more reserved manner than under Chief Justice Romanoffia. Romanoffia was wont to react to the crowd with proclamations that would not come to fruition and it appears that SillyString and her fellow justices are taking an opposite approach to the bench.
With this backdrop, I asked SillyString what is the major concern facing the court in the wake of Romanoffia's resignation. She replied, "There are two concerns facing the court. One, any open issues to be resolved (of which there is currently one), and two, I think it's well past time that the Court went through its archives and released old discussions into the public eye. There is no obligation for this kind of transparency, but in my opinion it would be highly beneficial. I hope the Court will pursue this second one in the upcoming term, no matter who sits on it."
Readers will certainly find SillyString's second pressing issue of interest as it begs the question - what court secrets will be revealed? Will SillyString reveal the deliberations of the region's most controversial rulings? In the event that SillyString wins reelection and is selected as chief justice, we'll have to see what she really means by "transparency".
Following the resignation of Romanoffia, the three justices agreed upon and published a revised version of the court rules, the set of procedures the court uses for all cases before it. I asked SillyString how the new court rules improve upon the old rules. She said, "I think the rule changes have two primary benefits. First, they clarify and simplify procedures, particularly the rules of evidence (which were absurdly complicated before). This will allow trials and hearings to run more smoothly, and I believe will make things easier on people with less experience in NS or TNP courts. Second, they add guidelines where none existed with respect to the conduct of justices and other participants and the level of discretion an individual justice has as compared to the full bench. I think this additional structure is also a good thing, and will hopefully help avoid any future situations from devolving into nonsense as the trial of JAL did."
Simplifying and adding guidelines sound good to this writer. Under the old rules there were complaints that one needed to be a real-life lawyer to maneuver through court proceedings. It appears that the new rules address this issue.
The recently concluded judicial elections have seen SillyString and Kiwi remain as chief justice and justice respectively, and Blue Wolf II replace Ator People on the bench. How will the new court navigate the numerous questions before it and will the justices be able to keep the often volatile RA satisfied with their rulings? These questions are yet to be answered, but we'll soon find out if the new court will permanently depart from the circumstances of Romanoffia's chaotic term. It's certainly an exciting time within TNP's judicial landscape.
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