Letter: Question 2 undermines courts

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To the editor:

Judges aren’t allowed to comment publicly on political issues, except when they concern the administration of justice. One of those issues is on the ballot next week. It would allow the New Hampshire Legislature to pass statutes governing how our courts are operated, even superseding how the court system itself believes its courts should be managed.

This amendment would violate the most fundamental principle of New Hampshire’s governmental structure; namely, the separation of powers among the co-equal executive, legislative and judicial branches. If the amendment were to pass, the judicial branch would no longer be equal and independent. In fact, the courts would be governed by the Legislature. That’s not what our founders had in mind when they created our constitutional balance of powers.

I urge you to vote against question 2 (CACR 26).

L. Phillips Runyon III

Presiding Justice

8th Circuit Court