On March 6th, Judge Jackie Colburn NH Superior Court and Attorney Dave Tencza, addressed the Rotary Club of Nashua regarding National Judicial Outreach Week. Judge Colburn presides over the NH Drug court with and has an impressive CV highlighting her education and special accomplishments. Jackie’s presentation talked about National Judicial Outreach Week – Preserving the Rule of Law. She has been sitting as a judge since 2009. They both provided narration to the presentation and had good audience interaction.
Before the American Revolution, the King was above the law. The constitution made sure that the law applies to all equally. No one is above the law. The courts do not choose which cases they will hear. That is determined by the litigants and prosecuting attorney.
Our laws come from the NH and US constitution. Also state legislative statutes, Executive Branch regulations, and Judicial Branch court decisions.
We strive to have a separation of powers – judicial, legislative and executive branches to protect the people. The court is in charge of enforcing the laws and apply statutory provisions. The mission is to preserve the rule of law. There are 3 levels of courts – Circuit, Superior and Supreme courts. The Circuit or district court deals with probate and family divisions and smaller court issues. It handled 125K filings last year throughout the state.
The Superior Court handles major crimes, the civil matters with more than $25,000 damages or if requested and more than$1500 damages. It handles all felonies and appeals from the Circuit Court. There is a Superior Court in each county, with 2 in Hillsborough. They handled 17209 filings -60 Malpractice, 141 juvenile, 306 parole revocations, 7188 civil, 9510 criminal actions.
The Supreme Court handles appeals from Superior Court and discipline of all lawyers. There are 5 Supreme Court justices and it sits in Concord. They can choose some of the cases they will here. They handled about 1700 filings – 63 opinions rendered from 102 arguments heard, 392 cases accepted, 614 appeals filed, 625 final depositions reached.
The federal court system was reviewed and is similar but has different selection rules for cases heard. They reviewed how judges are selected. In NH judges are nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the Executive Council. They have an age limit of 70. Many states have elected judges (38 states). Federal judges hold their seat for life.
Judges daily workload is to interpret the law, preside at jury and bench trials/hearings, impose sentences. They work to protect the rule of law with equal justice for all. Everyone is entitled to ‘due process’ which are fair procedures. This includes, notice, timely public process, opportunity to be heard, and to call witnesses.
There are special courts for Drug crimes, Veteran Crimes and other specialty dockets.
A brief Q & A followed with good participation.