Access to the Courts in the Obama Moment

On this site we are in the middle of a critical discussion about the Obama Moment. Progressives fighting to restore our values in this country must seize upon the increase in political engagement and energy that Obama has inspired, to meet our agenda for those tangibles that our values require.

One set of tangibles are changes to our justice system. Social and economic justice REQUIRE that ordinary people have access to the courts to enforce their legal rights. And when I say "the courts", I mean a judiciary that is not so heavily corporatist that the courtroom is just a proxy for the boardroom.

Back in January I published Election '08: A Pro Civil Justice Presidential Platform [1]. It proposed 6 simple policies that the next president could endorse to restore fairness to our civil legal system, and to make it work better for regular people and not just corporations and the politicians they fund. I'm working on a comparison of how the DNC and RNC platforms address access to justice concerns. Anyone have suggestions or material? Please share! If not, please keep an eye out for this soon.