Inadmissible
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04-07-2003
CHILD-PROOF JUSTICE
Kids have a way of
simplifying issues that sometimes bedevil their elders. That applies
equally to the offspring of judges.
Mercer Assignment
Judge Linda Feinberg stated in open court on March 28
that she was on the brink of holding that due process requires the
state to appoint counsel for indigent parents before it can lock
them up for nonpayment of child support.
After discussing
why she thought the constitution required her to grant the relief
sought in the case, Pasqua v. Council, MER-L-406-03, she
described a conversation about the case while driving wiith her son,
"a 17-year-old kid who happens to be very, very smart."
Her
son said, "well mom, any time you're going to incarcerate somebody,
you know, shouldn't you give that person a lawyer if they can't
afford it?" recalled Feinberg. "And that's sort of -- and it's a
really -- it's a simple concept," Feinberg told the courtroom.
— By Jim Edwards, Charles Toutant, Michael Booth and Mary
P. Gallagher
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