At noon on Wednesday, a huge rally will be held in front of San Francisco City Hall in support of better funding for our court system. Attorney General Kamala Harris and State Bar President Jon Streeter will be there, as will the usual politicians and community leaders. As we all know by now, our courts are substantially underfunded, with departments closing, systemwide layoffs, services severely curtailed and the danger of cases simply not being adjudicated even within statutorily mandated deadlines.
The most significant attendees may be those whose programs deliver services to the poor and help people of modest means. It will come as no surprise that any defunding, including this one, will disproportionally harm these people. But for the legal system, the result could be a systemic failure, perhaps even of constitutional proportions, to deny many Bay Area people fundamental rights, including due process of law, by effectively obstructing access to our courts.
