COMMENTARY

Key West Lou

By Louis Petrone

OUR LEGAL SYSTEM IS DISINTEGRATING

Part 2

Detroit. A poor man’s ghetto. Detroit is in bankruptcy. Municipal bankruptcies are rare. Especially one as big as Detroit’s

New grounds, new issues, coming up which were not even contemplated when the laws were passed concerning municipal bankruptcies

A Bankruptcy Judge is omnipotent. He and he alone is the boss. He makes the decisions.

We are all familiar with Detroit’s water problem. The poor cannot pay. As soon as a person’s water bill hits $150, the water company turns off the water. The water company insists on being paid. The people do not have the money. Since the first of the year, 50,000 residences have had their water turned off. The water company is turning off water at the rate of 400 homes a day.

Man requires air and water to survive. No question about it. The Detroit residents are mostly black. They are not the only ones who owe the water company. A car manufacturing plant owes hundreds of thousands of dollars. So too does Detroit”s sports arena. For whatever reason, the water company is not pursuing these big guys for payment.

The United Nations got involved a couple of months ago. The UN said the right to water is a fundamental one, Detroit should turn the water of its residents back on. The UN’s voice was not heard.

The matter came up before the Bankruptcy Judge two weeks ago. There was a motion to require the water company to stop the mass water shut offs. The Judge decided. He decided for the water company and against the residents. The Judge said there was no fundamental right to water service which in effect means there is no fundamental right to water.

The Judge could have ruled the other way. In order to do so, he would have had to go outside the box. Bankruptcy laws are basically to protect debtors. The Judge followed existing law to the letter. He protected the debtor water company, a department of the City of Detroit.

The decision does not make sense to me. Detroit is so far in the red that the creditors will be lucky to get ten cents on the dollar. That is the way these things go. The overall dollars owed by the residents is minuscule compared to those who owe big dollars. To have found for the residents, the ten cents would have dropped the tiniest of amounts. The creditors would get a wee bit under the ten cents on the dollar. Like $.00001 less. And the residents would have water!

United States’ citizens are entitled to “…..life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The Judge in his opinion found the denial of water violated neither liberty nor the pursuit of happiness. He never mentioned “life.”

Decisions like this have to affect the faith people have in the judicial system, an integral part of the legal system.

The United States Supreme Court has been coming up with some weird decisions in recent years. The perfect example is the decision holding corporations are people and therefore can contribute unlimited amounts in an election. Talk about balancing the playing field.

People are becoming increasingly unhappy with Supreme Court decisions. For the simple reason, they do not make sense.

A week ago monday, the Supreme Court got involved in the same sex marriage issue. The nine person Court did not sit and hear oral argument. They did not entertain the Constitutional issue re same sex marriage so its decision would have nationwide implication. It rendered a one page court order stating it would not hear appeals from five States regarding the issue.

The banning of same sex marriage was the issue in each State. Certain federal appeals courts had ruled the bans unconstitutional. The Supreme Court refused to hear the cases. In effect making those decisions the law in five States. Gay people could marry!

Immediately, the media was replete with same sex advocates claiming a great victory. On my blog talk radio show the next evening, I said the celebration was premature. There were still 20 States out there where same sex marriage was not permitted.

My concern was that the Supreme Court did not solve the entire problem. The Supreme Court is omnipotent. It can do what what it wants. Why did it not hear the cases in open court and render a decision affecting every State? I warned that the opponents of same sex marriage would come out of the wood work. The battle was not over, not yet won. As with abortion, the issue could take another 20 years to totally resolve.

That was Tuesday night. Wednesday,  Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy issued an order that affected two of the States. Nevada and Idaho were stayed from marrying same sex couples. A few hours later, Kennedy issued another order. The new order said his decision only applied to Idaho.

I am writing this column on thursday, the day after Justice Kennedy’s two orders. By the time this column hits the press next wednesday, more will have happened. I can only comment up to this point.

It is my opinion the Supreme Court was wrong in not hearing all cases involving same sex marriage in mass, considering it is a nationwide issue. People do not understand the intricacies of the law, the many minute rules affecting court procedure. All they will understand is the Supreme Court had an opportunity to act in a complete manner and failed to do so.

The dike walls are starting to give in.

The legal system has lost its way. Somehow, somewhere. The system seems to pay less and less attention to the 99 percent. Rights are violated. Rights not upheld. Rights not recognized. The system is becoming more and more out of control

A society whose laws fail to protect everyone understandably and fairly cannot survive. If the legal system continues in its present fashion, I fear it will do to the Nation what Katrina did to New Orleans.

 

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