What is the Judge Hiding?
by EDITOR - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

It's impossible to imagine the American legal system without the public's right to scrutinize the actions of the courts.

But that right would not have as much meaning if the public could only examine how judges dish out justice but not how they use public funds.

Which is why it's disconcerting that the chief judge at Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, Raymond Bigelow, is fighting requests from a community group and The Times-Picayune to disclose public information on how judges spend money collected from fines.

Judge Bigelow and his lawyer argue that due to the separation of powers between branches of government, the public has the right to know how much money is collected in fines, but not what is done with it.

That simply does not make sense. Imagine the Legislature saying citizens could see how much the treasury brought in, but not what the taxes would be spent on. Judicial fines collected from citizens are public money, and thus subject to public scrutiny.

Judges are elected to serve the public. The fines collected in court are public funds. The public has the right to full disclosure on how that money is spent. Period.